Beyond Darkness
by jean010
Summary: It is in the deepest darkness that you can find the strongest light. A young boy who's life will always be the bridge between the two forces. Will he succumb to the darkness that is his past or will he accept the light that is his future? Only time will tell. NarutoXHarem! Strong Naruto! Mage Naruto! Genderbend for some characters! Other Minor Crossovers
1. Prologue

Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Prologue:**

**A Light in the Deepest Darkness**

_Tenroujima, year x768_

Loneliness. A lot of people would tell you that its one of the worst feelings that exists. To feel like, even though there are million of people in the world, you are still alone, with no one to care, love or spend your life. To feel alone because you would never be able to see the few people that meant the world to you

It was truly a horrible emotion

And it was that same emotion that certain individual was feeling right now. This person was young man with a face that could be considered handsome, with black short hair and black eyes with a small circle-shaped necklace around his neck. He was wearing a high-collared black and tan robes with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. This man was one that would always be remembering in history as one, if not the most, evil wizard that have faced this world. This man was none other that the Dark Lord Zeref

There were two things that stood out about this man at this moment though; one was the lost gaze that Zeref was giving to the stars. It was already pretty late, probably midnight, and Zeref's eyes were glued to the dark sky, his eyes a pool hiding an amount of sadness, grief, pain that were beyond of what the powerful black haired mage had ever felt in his life

The other thing to notice was the bundle that Zeref was carrying in his arms. Said bundle was covered with an orange sheet that hided who it was from everyone except for Zeref, who could not even bring himself to look because of the shame he was feeling right now

'I failed... I should have died, not them... I'm so sorry... Minato... Kushina...' were the thought that Zeref had right now, the death of the only people he had ever called a family fresh on his mind and hearth. How could he have failed so much? He should have stayed, he should have help them somehow... but he didn't, he left, he abandoned them, and now they were death and it was all his own fault

_He_ might have been the one to kill them, but in Zeref's mind it was his fault too, and it was something that would forever torment his mind. He didn't care though; he knew he deserved something a lot worse than this. In his mind even death was something to 'good' for him.

The powerful dark mage was taken out of his thought by the sound of wings flapping, followed by a strong gust of wind, which made Zeref twist his body in order to protect the bundle in his arms. This gust of wind was followed by a temblor, which of course was originated because of the rough landing that the being that was now standing in front of Zeref had

This being was something that would make every man; woman and child to cower in fear by his presence only, let alone his reputation. This being was a gargantuan, mastodonic Dragon whose entire upper body was covered in black, round, scales, which, in turn, were decorated by spiraling, blue markings. His lower body, specifically his belly, inner tail, and legs, were gray in color, and appear to be rather smooth. The Dragon's eyes were white and beady, and his head is round and blunt with four, large, elongated plates extending backward. You could easily see that his mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth, and, attached to his chin, was a protrusion that resembles an arrowhead. His large wings were feathery in appearance, akin to that's of a bird. His black scales disappear at the end of his tail, which, in itself, ends in a stinger-esque shape. This monster was none other that the King of Dragons and probably one of the strongest beings in existence, Acnologia

Zeref of course was not surprised by the appearance of the gigantic dragon; he had called him after all. It was easy for him to do it, after all it was the dark mage himself that had turned Acnologia into a dragon in the first place, and every since that day both Dark Lord and Dragon of Apocalypses had have some sort of connection. While it was not like they could communicate mentally, they could easily tell when the other one was. It only took Zeref a few moments of concentration to be able to use that bond like a beacon, practically telling Acnologia that his presence was needed

Both human and dragon looked at one another in the eyes, Zeref's black ones looking directly into Acnologia's white ones, and for some minutes neither of the two powerful beings said anything. The only thing anyone could hear was the sound of the leafs moving because of the wind and, in Zeref's case, the calm breathing coming from the bundle he had in his arms.

In the end it was Acnologia the one who broke the silence, his head low, almost touching the ground, so that he could look directly at Zeref's form

**"Zeref... It has been 400 years since the last time I saw you... I could not even feel your presence... I actually thought you had died somehow... and yet here you are"**said Acnologia, his booming voice strong and grave. Of course Acnologia was someone that would never speak to humans, thinking of them as nothing but little insects that he could easily crush. But Zeref was different, he was not only the one that had given him this body, but was also probably one of the strongest humans to ever live, and that of course made Zeref something more than just a human in Acnologias's opinion

"Yes... While for you it had been 400 years, for me just a few days have passed" answered Zeref, his voice monotonous as always.

**"I see... I should have known... after all the ability to travel through time is not something beyond you..."** said the powerful dragon, coming to the conclusion that, for some reason, Zeref had found a way to travel through time and used it, traveling 400 years from the past to this present. Why though, wondered the black dragon, what could have possibly made a man like Zeref decide to mess with time itself?

"Indeed... I was given a task that forced me to escape from the past... and what better hiding place that the future itself?" revealed Zeref, a frown appearing in his face for a second at the thought of what made him come here. Just after that Zeref's gaze, for the first time since he got to this island, went directly towards the bundle he had in his hands and once again he was attacked by no little amount if guilt

In Zeref's arms, covered by an orange sheet was a little boy, probably of 4 years of age, with sun-kissed skin and spiky blonde hair. This boy was at the moment sleeping, but if he were awake Zeref would have seen a pair of sky-blue eyes full of happiness and innocence. Zeref was relieved that he hadn't woke up though, since he didn't know how would the young kid react or worse, how he himself would have reacted

Zeref was not the only that one took attention of the blonde kid. Acnologia too had focused his gaze in him and almost instantly a growl escaped his mouth. It was well known what Acnologia thought of humans and seeing one here annoyed him. Sure, he could easily accept Zeref, but not a little runt like that blonde child. The powerful dragon should not hove growled though, since as soon as he did he found himself the recipient of the powerful glare of an crimson-eyed Zeref.

"You better refrain yourself from doing anything Acnologia, or you'll find yourself begging me to end your suffering" threatened Zeref, his voice cold and a glare in his face directed at Acnologia, who actually flinched at seeing this, after all he could not remember the last time he saw Zeref so angered at anything!

**"What is the meaning of this Zeref?"** asked the black dragon, doing his best to keep anger in his voice; after all he knew that Zeref could go with that threat.

"This child here is the reason of my call to you Acnologia" revealed Zeref, and he was sure that at that moment Acnologia's eyes widened in shock before his focus turned to Zeref once again

**"And since when did you become such a family man dark mage?"**

"That is not of you concern Acnologia..." started Zeref, but was interrupted by another growl coming from the powerful black dragon, who was definitely not amused by what Zeref had implied

**"I believe it is! Not only did you call me like this but you also did it with a human in your arms, which if I'm correct is someone you want me to train, isn't he?"** growled Acnologia, trying to think of a plausible reason for Zeref's new found attention in this blonde boy, but he could found none. Of course the king of dragons did not know everything about Zeref's live, 'cause if he did he would find a reason easily enough. This outburst though just got another glare from Zeref

"My relationship with this child is not of your concern Acnologia... But you are correct, that is the task I'm commending you"

**"And what makes you think I will accept such a task dark mage?"**answered the dragon, his head closer to Zeref, although this didn't have any visual effect from the dark mage, who simply stood there with a bored gaze in his eyes and the young child in his arms.

"You will because you owe me Acnologia... it was me who gave you that body and its me who can easily take it from you, turning you into nothing but a human" retaliated Zeref, getting another growl and a glare com the king of dragons. Acnologia of course knew that Zeref was right, the massive dragon knew he was strong, but even him would not challenge a monster like Zeref

No one in his right mind would

"I'm not asking you to love this child Acnologia... I'm just asking you to train him like he was your own, just like how you were trained in the past" continued Zeref without missing a beat. The dark mage knew that he was playing with fire here by leaving his young charge with someone like Acnologia, but he had no other choice, he needed the boy to grow strong and he could not train him himself. Even now the seal that was keeping his powers at bay was weakening by the second. He could not afford to be close to anyone, specially this young boy, without the fear of his powers going out of control and killing everything around him

**"Why Zeref... What is so special about this child that you're asking me such a thing?"** interrogated the massive dragon; truly curious about why was Zeref going to such length to make sure that this boy was trained.

"This boy is going to face terrible things in the future Acnologia... things that no one should face and yet he has no choice on the matter... He needs to be strong if he wants any chance at surviving what is going to come, and for that I need you to train him" said Zeref, sadness in his eyes who were looking at his blonde charge. Of course would have liked a lot more if the young boy could have a normal childhood, but that was already out of the question.

Meanwhile Acnologia was pondering Zeref's request in his mind. Of course a big part of him wanted to just say no and be done with it. He had never liked humans, so to lose time by actually training one was something that the king of dragons never considered. But he knew better, he knew that this was a task he could not refuse, after all he didn't want to awake the wrath of Zeref. There was another thing to consider and that was what Zeref had just said about the boy. What kind of danger could a simply four year old kid have to face? Acnologia didn't know, but if it was enough to make Zeref do something like this it was something big.

It was just after a few minutes that Acnologia finally answered, opening one on his claws so that Zeref could have easy access to his paw

**"Very well Zeref... only because is you who's asking me is that I will accept this job... but just like you said don't expect me to love or care for this child, I will simply train him and then be done with him"**said Acnologia, expecting Zeref to put the boy on his paw so that he could take him away from this place. There was something about this island that Acnologia just disliked, he didn't know what, but he didn't really care about it since he doubt it he would ever set another paw on this place

At hearing the dragon's words Zeref gave a little nod of acceptance just before walking towards the black dragons open claw and putting his young change gently in the dragon's paw. The dark mage was not over though, since the next thing he did was to take out his necklace and gently, so to not awake the child, putting it around his neck. Just after that the dark mage took out something from his robes that Acnologia has never seen in his life

This weapon was a kunai, but it was definitely different that the normal kunai some people used. This one had three different blades instead of the normal one, and on its handle there was some strange mark Acnologia had never seen either. The black haired mage put the kunai besides the blonde child, knowing that if someone was going to be able to crack this spell it was definitely him

"Make sure he always has those things in his possession Acnologia... and thank you..."

After doing that Zeref simply started walking towards the center of the island, ready to spend the rest of his live here until he was needed, knowing that at least Naruto was going to be in good hands. Acnologia would never harm the child, even if he hated him he would not, if it was because of fear of Zeref's reaction or respect the dark mage didn't know, now did he care as long as their child was safe

**"What is his name...?"** asked Acnologia, who's wings were already extended and ready to take fly, making Zeref stop in his track. That's right; he almost forgot to tell the dragon the name of the child. Zeref didn't turn around though, but if he had Acnologia would have seen the tears that were falling from the powerful mans eyes

"Naruto... Uzumaki Naruto... That's his name" said Zeref, doing his best to keep his feelings away from his voice, revealing the young boy identity. This got nothing but a nod from the massive dragon, which was just starting to take fly, doing his best to make sure young Naruto was safe in his paw

Zeref didn't have to turn around to know that Acnologia had already left. And once again the feeling of loneliness strike him hard in his heart, but he knew that it was necessary, after all as long as _He_ lived there was no way that Naruto could have a normal life, let alone Zeref himself. But right now there was nothing else he could truly do. He could just sit, wait and hope, hope that Naruto could grow strong enough so that not to fall against that _monster_ he once called friend.

'Good luck... Naruto-kun...'

And whit that Zeref disappeared in the shadows of the night, never to be seen again until the time he was truly needed...

...By the boy that was his Godson

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**I could not get this idea out of my mind so I ended up writing it or well at least a little prologue about it. The premise of this fic is to play with Zeref's past, something that the Fairy Tail manga had not really touched, so you can expect that the past of both Zeref and Naruto is going to affect greatly this story.**

**I'm going to warn you already in the fact that this fic will have some genderbend of some male's characters from Fairy Tail. Why? 'cause not only I like a good genderbend but I also like to annoy my friends and this is a good way of doing it**

**This is also my take in an "Acnologia trains Naruto" fanfic, something that I wanted to write for a while now. Well until**** next update!.**


	2. Human Nature

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 1**

**Human Nature**

_6 years later. Year x774_

**_"Yaryu no Hōkō(Darkness Dragon's Roar)!"_** yelled a ten year old blonde kid just before releasing a black energy beam from his mouth towards the resting form of the boy's teacher

Said teacher was clearly not human and was right not laying on the ground, his paws resting just bellow his head and his white eyes looking at the spell that his apprentice released with something akin to boredom. This being was none other than the king of dragons, Acnologia.

Said dragon simply moved one of his paws to block the attack from hitting his face, making the attack exploding in his claw, although if said attack actually harmed the dragon then it didn't look like it

It actually tickled, would have been Acnologia's answer if someone asked him if it hurts

**"Weak as always..."** grumbled the powerful dragon, his white eyes going from the spot in which the spell hit his paw to the panting and tired form of his young student

Said student was a ten year old boy, with spiky golden blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. This boy's outfit was quite simply. Just a simply black shirt and some black pants and black shoes. Besides that he was also wearing a small circle-shaped necklace around his neck. This boy was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, apprentice of Acnologia and only user of the lost magic known as **_Yami no Metsuryu Maho (Darkness Dragon Slayer Magic)_**

"Sh-shut up..." said Naruto between breaths, sweat pouring down from his forehead. It was not surprise to see the young blonde in this state; after all it was normal for him to train until he was completely exhausted and then some

**_"Yaryu no Hōkō (Darkness Dragon's Roar)!"_**exclaimed the young blonde before suing the same spell from before, only that this time it was visibly smaller and Acnologia could easily feel the lack of power.

One again the great black dragon simply put his paw in front of his face, shielding him from the attack. A smaller explosion occurred when the attack hit Acnologia's paw just before Naruto actually collapsed, falling backwards in the ground, obviously exhausted from the training he had today

**"Oh yes, that definitely hurt, I'm even bleeding"**Said Acnologia, sarcasm dripping from his words and his eyes looking at his young apprentice with nothing but boredom.

Said apprentice decided to ignore the dragon's words and instead he simply looked at the blue sky and clouds that passed through. It was something that Naruto found himself doing every time he trained like this, which was almost every day, and he found it truly relaxing.

It has been already six years since Naruto had started training with Acnologia. Of course the first time the two had met was when Naruto had woken up in a weird cave with Acnologia looking intently at him, like he was a puzzle that the dragon needed to figure out.

Of course what happened next was a series of confused babbling from the young blonde and angry remarks from the powerful dragon. Said dragon had actually thought of simply eating the boy because of his annoying question. The king of dragons was a little surprised though since the young blonde didn't seam scared at all of him.

Yes, that was a funny first talk

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Acnologia was angry. No, scratch that, Acnologia was enraged. Why? Simple. The powerful dragon was someone who's pride resided in his power, and not only that but also the reputation he had gained through the years as the most powerful dragon and as an herald of destruction and chaos. A being that made everyone shiver in fear by his simple presence_

_Yes, Acnologia was definitely proud of himself_

_And of course it was a heavy blow to his pride that when the little gaki Zeref had gave him to train, something that still left a sour taste on Acnologia's mouth since the last thing he wanted to do was train a human, had woken up and instead of the fear the black dragon expected in the boys eyes the only thing he found was mere curiosity._

_Right now the both of them were located in a gigantic cave. The only thing illuminating this place was the little sun light that penetrated from some holes the cave had. Acnologia decided to come to this place first since he wanted to see exactly was kind of weak sack of flesh he would have to train as soon as possible_

_"Are you a dragon...?" asked young Naruto, looking at the laying form of Acnologia with no little amount of both curiosity and awe. Expressions that the king of dragons found himself wanting to wipe of. He should be looked with nothing but fear dammit!_

**_"Of course I am ningen, what else could I be?"_**_answered Acnologia with no little amount of sarcasm and contempt in his voice. Sure he would do the task Zeref asked him to do, but it did not mean he had to like it!_

_"An oversized lizard?" was Naruto comeback, and if it wasn't because of the mischievous glint he had in his eyes it would have seen like he was asking something in honest curiosity._

_Of course Acnologia had to use all of his for of will to NOT eat the human where his standing. He was the strongest dragon! No one called him an oversized lizard and leaved to tale the tale!_

_It also helped that he recounted in his minds the different ways that Zeref could destroy him if he were to kill this little cockroach._

**_"You have death wish ningen? I could easily eat you for that comment!"_**_growled the gigantic dragon with his equivalent to a glare directed towards the young blonde. Of course this would have made almost anyone to shrink in bare fear_

_Sadly for Acnologia Naruto was not just any human, even if he was just a child_

_"Yeah, I guess you could... but you won't" said Naruto with an innocent smile, since apparently he found funny to mess with someone like Acnologia of all being. Said blonde was right now sitting cross-legged in front of the massive dragon. The young boy's clothes were nothing especial, just a simple white shirt with a weird logo that looked like a spiral on its back and some blue pants. Besides him there was the orange blanket he had when he woke up and the estrange kunai Zeref had given to Acnologia. It was also important to note that Naruto was wearing Zeref's necklace_

**_"Oh? And do pray tell why wouldn't I just eat you and be done with you?"_**_ asked Acnologia, both amused and annoyed at the blonde_

_"Because if you wanted to eat me you would have already done so" answered Naruto cheekily, his head tilted to a side and an innocent smile on his face._

_That answer actually surprised the powerful dragon a little bit, and his gaze from threatening to a calculating one, almost like he was judging Naruto's worth_

_Meanwhile the young blonde was, of course, expecting to see what the black dragon would say to that. He understood that being afraid was something that a lot of people would be in this situation, but for some reason the young blonde did not feel afraid from this dragon, almost like he knew that Acnologia would not harm him..._

_...that much_

**_"Maybe you're right..."_**_started Acnologia slowly, which made Naruto's smile grow a bit "_**_...Or maybe I'm the kind of dragon that likes to play with his food before eating it"_**_and as soon as he finished his sentence Naruto's smile disappeared from his face and his widened. Apparently the young blonde has not thought of that_

**_"Luckily for you I'm not that type of dragon"_**_decided to say Acnologia, not wanting to see the human peeing right here just because of fear. Meanwhile Naruto released a relieved sigh, feeling more at calm since a few minutes ago he thought his big mouth had put him in problem_

_After that both human and dragon simply stared at each other for a while, blue eyes looking directly at white empty ones. It wasn't until Naruto asked a question that simply made Acnologia think that whatever had happened with Zeref in this boy, it was really mess up_

_"Who am I?"_

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

After discovering that, in fact, Naruto did not remember anything, not even his name, Acnologia came to the conclusion that, for some reason, Zeref had wiped out Naruto's memory or something like that. The black dragon had to improvise and told Naruto that he had found him abandoned in a forest, alone and that he simply had decided to grab him. Of course Acnologia didn't know if Naruto had actually believed him, considering the weird looks he received, but he didn't really care, after all it's not like he could just tell him about Zeref like that since there had to be a reason for said dark mage to wipe the memories of the boy

Of course Naruto did in fact not believe Acnologia completely, but he literally could not remember anything. Not even his name or who were his parents. So the young blonde had no choice but to accept what Acnologia said, hoping that sooner or later his memories would come back

It was after that explanation that Acnologia had actually gave the boy a choice. That he could either leave and go do shit in the world without even a clue of who or where he was, or he could accept Acnologia as his sensei and learn everything the king of dragon had to offer. Acnologia did this just to see exactly what would the boy do, after all it was a lot easier to train a willing apprentice that someone who didn't want to learn

Of course considering the circumstances Naruto had no other choice but to say yes.

It had already been six years since that day and to say that Naruto had been working hard would be an understatement. After that day Acnologia had flied with him to another completely different place, which was the place they were right not

Said location was to say at least a gigantic forest. Said forest was completely covered with big trees; with the exception of some clearings like the one the two of them were right now. It was this type of places that Acnologia used for training. Other place that both Acnologia and Naruto used for training was a small river that was in another part of the forest. Naruto did not wandered in the forest that much though, unless it was for survival training, something that Acnologia had forced Naruto to do besides his physical training and magical training.

The forest itself was well hidden, or at least that what it looked like since Naruto could count with his hand the number of times someone had actually appeared in this place. When it came to food Naruto normally ate whatever Acnologia brought after in the morning, which of course was a type of dead animal, although some times Naruto was forced to search for his own food in the forest.

For the physical part Acnologia made Naruto start every day with different exercises. From running until his legs gave up to doing sit-ups and push-ups until Acnologia told him to rest, which only happened once Naruto's body was completely in pain

After that the black dragon would let Naruto rest for a while before starting the training in magic. Of course Acnologia being a dragon had taught Naruto **_Metsuryū Mahō_****_(Dragon Slayer Magic),_**or to be more precise **_Yami no_****_Metsuryū Mahō_****_(Darkness Dragon Slayer Magic)._** Acnologia made Naruto learn a spell and then use it repeatedly until he rounded out of magic, this was so that Naruto could both masteries a spell and also raise the amount of magic his body could had

Of course Acnologia knew that he was pushing Naruto a lot more than what other dragons did with their _sons_, but he didn't care. He had told the boy that his training would be hellish but he had still accepted. So Acnologia was going to do his best to ensure that Naruto became as strong a he could

He had no choice after all

**"I wonder if one of this day you'll stop being so weak"** grumbled Acnologia, trying to get a raise from his apprentice, after all since he could not kill him he could at least have fun at the boys expenses

Sadly for him said boy did not even bother to say anything, knowing what the black dragon was trying to do. Naruto was already used to his relationship with Acnologia. Since the start of the training the black dragon had treated Naruto like he was a load he could not get rid off or just something bothersome that the black dragon simply couldn't eat or just kill. Of course Naruto had tried to bond somehow with the powerful beast for the first year of training since he was possibly the closed thing to a family he would ever have for a time, but it didn't took a genius to notice that Acnologia didn't want to have any sort of relationship with Naruto besides that of master and apprentice, and that was barely.

Of course this left Naruto yearning for something to call a family. He always wondered what had happened to his. He knew he had a father and a mother somewhere since he was he had not grow in a tree from one day to another, and he always wondered who and where were they? Did they abandon them? Or did Acnologia do something to them and he simply didn't want to tell Naruto about it? The only thing the young blonde knew was that every time he started thinking of his lost family a great sense of loss and sadness appeared in his hearth.

The young blonde always hoped for a lot of stuff. For his memories to come back. For his family to appear. Heck he also hoped that one day Acnologia would stop treating him like an annoyance knew though. He knew that those things would probably never happen.

That didn't stop him from hoping though

Naruto was taken out of his thought by the sound of wings flipping. The young blonde stood of in time to see his sensei preparing to take fly, which meant that it was resting time

**"I'll come back later and you better be ready to continue or tomorrow is going to be worse"** said Acnologia before taking fly, leaving Naruto alone in the clearing. This was something normal for the dragon to do since he only spent time here when he was training Naruto. Besides that Acnologia normally stayed somewhere else and he had never told Naruto when it was

"One of this days you oversized gecko, one of this day" whispered Naruto, once again vowing to himself that one day he would be strong enough to defeat his sensei in a fight. That way he would have no other choice but to accept the fact that Naruto was not a dead weight ad he normally calls him

Yes, he would get strong and show Acnologia, even if it was the last thing he did in his life!

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Some weeks later_

Naruto Uzumaki was excited. This was one of the days Acnologia would let him go to a little village in which Naruto would spend a few days before being picked up by the powerful dragon.

For this said dragon would take Naruto travel for a while towards a little village that was practically at the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature and with few people actually living in it in compression with any big city. Acnologia made sure to drop Naruto away from the village so that no one would see him and as always Naruto would spend normally one or maybe even two days there before having to go back to the spot Acnologia left him so that the dragon could pick him up and return to the forest that was their home. Normally Acnologia would let Naruto do this once a month, which was the reason the young blonde always, got exited about it, since it was one of the few thing he truly enjoyed

The reason for this travel was because there was stuff that Acnologia wanted to make sure Naruto learned, but that the dragon himself couldn't teach easily. Like writing and reading or the simply act of socializing. Another reason for doing this was for the young blonde to get clothes once the ones he used were too small for him.

Acnologia promised that he would train the boy and he would be damned in he did it halfway!

Naruto had never asked from where Acnologia had even gotten the jewels for Naruto to buy clothes, specially since the first time he did Acnologia simply gave him what he thought was a predatory smile.

Right now the blonde boy was walking through a little road that ended in the village he had been visiting from some years already, thinking about what he'll do once he gets there. The first thing that came into mind was of course reading some books that the local library had. Reading was definitely one of Naruto's favorite hobbies, besides training of course. It really helped that he already knew how to read when Acnologia found him, something that actually surprised the dragon a little bit considering how young Naruto was in the first place

Not that Acnologia ever told him that, the mighty dragon believed in tough love after all, or how he likes to call it, soft hate

It was after walking for some time that Naruto finally got close enough to see the village itself. The village by far a small one, with a lot of houses and other buildings that were made with either wood or stones. There were a few buildings that were bigger than the others, but the majorities were two-store houses. One of the most eye-catching things that the little village had was that in the middle of it there was a little park, filled with some trees, grass and of course a small lake that children normally used to play.

Naruto entered the small town, waving hello to the poor guy whose job was to watch out for the village entrance. It was still quite early so there weren't that much people in the streets yet except for some early people and other ones who were opening their shops already. Naruto waved and some of them while walking by, his legs moving him towards his wished destination

The Library

The place itself was nothing really special. Just a big building made of stone, Naruto guessed. Of course since the village itself was small the variety of books this place had was not overly extensive, but Naruto didn't really care about that anyway, considering the fact that he liked almost everything that was in a book. From history to theory of magic to fantasy novels.

Except trashy romance novels, that was something not even Naruto liked, specially those books that made grow man giggle like little girls with blush on their faces

"Ohayo Kurenai-san" greeted Naruto once he got to the reception desk, looking at the women in charge of the library with a smile on his face. Said woman was reading a book at the moment, but as soon as she heard the greeting her eyes focused on the blonde boy and she couldn't stop the kind smile that appeared on her face

"Ohayo Naruto-kun" replied the woman known as Kurenai. Kurenai is a fairly tall and light-skinned woman of slender build. She has long, black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that are red in color, with an additional ring in them. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her outfit consists of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over that there is this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages.

"I knew I was forgetting something important, although I'm sure Hinata-chan didn't forget about you coming today. That explain why she was so happy yesterday" said Kurenai after rounding her desk and hugging Naruto quite tightly, making the blond boy release a chuckle and start scratching his head in embarrassment

"Where's Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto while looking around, expecting to see his shy friend

"She had to do some errands, but I'm sure she will be here shortly, you can go and read meanwhile if you want, Naruto-kun" replied the red eyed woman, knowing the answer already, after all she knew how much Naruto liked to read

Said blonde nodded happily before going to one of the many bookshelves there were and picking a specific book. Said was quite thick, with a brown cover and its title written in golden letters. '_Magic: A Gift'_was the name of the book. The young blonde grabbed the book and, after sitting in the lone couch the library had he started reading the book

Just as it title suggested the book talked about magic itself. About how magic worked in the world and how were people able to use it. It also touched the theme about the different types of magic that existed and how they were either Holder Magic or Caster Magic.

One of the things Naruto found more interesting about the book was the theme of Lost Magic. Of course it was not surprising considering that Naruto itself was a user of a Lost Magic. According to the book one of the most powerful and dangerous type of magic was those that messes with time and space, followed only by the dark magic that dealt with life and death itself

Of course the user of those type of magic where almost none existent. In fact the only known user of that kind of dark magic was the one known as Zeref. Naruto had read about the actions of said dark mage 400 years ago and even though almost anyone concluded that Zeref was by far the most evil mage that had ever existed Naruto could not help but feel that something was wrong when it came to what the books knew about the man

Sadly the young boy would never be able to meet someone that dies 400 years ago or at least that what he believed

"O-Ohayo, Naruto-kun" said a soft voice that took Naruto out of his reading after almost half an hour of it. When Naruto looked up from his book he was greeted by the presence of one of his friends in this village, Hinata Hyuga

Hinata was a young girl, probably a few years younger than Naruto with dark blue hair and fair skin. Her eyes were quite peculiar, being completely white with a touch of lavender. Her hair was in a short, leveled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length bangs framing her face. She was wearing a simple outfit: a long-sleeved, light blue blouse with a high collar, and dark blue pants and blue sandals.

"Ohayo Hinata-chan!" replied Naruto with a big smile on his face, getting a small one from the shy girl, who also had a book in her hands, only that this one was quite smaller if you compared it with Naruto's

The two of them had become friend shortly after Naruto's second visit at the village. Naruto had found some other kids making fun of Hinata at the park because of her eyes and decided to intervene, which included hitting one of the kids that seemed to not get the message. Naruto had never liked bullies, probably because of the fact that he spent almost all of his time with Acnologia, who in Naruto's opinion was nothing but a big bully

A big, powerful and annoying bully

After that Naruto spent a good part of the day simply spending time with the pale-eyed girl, playing a little bit before going to the library to read. It was that same day when he was formally introduced to Hinata's adoptive mother, Kurenai Yuhi, and to say that the woman was pissed when Naruto told her how she had helped Hinata would have been an understatement

Just at that moment Naruto actually felt pity for those kids

After that day Naruto became good friends with both daughter and mother, so it was really no surprise to find both Naruto and Hinata reading books together in the library, playing in the park or simply walking around the village.

Of course Naruto could never tell them the real reason for him to just stay in the village for nothing more than two days. Acnologia made that part quite clear, since the last thing he wanted was some annoying humans poking in his business. So the young blonde boy had no choice but simply tell them that he liked to travel a lot, so he really couldn't stay in just once place

Of course Kurenai hadn't believed him at all, but she didn't press the subject again, something that the blue eyed boy was fortunate for. He could not blame her though, after all Naruto was still young, so for him to be travelling around alone could be quite dangerous, or so she believed

"W-what are you reading, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata after seating besides Naruto in the couch. To answer that Naruto simply raised his book, showing Hinata the title of it, making the young girl nod in confirmation

"And you?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow. Hinata did the same as Naruto and simply raised her white book and Naruto could easily read the title of it: _Dragons: a Magical Tale_

"A book of dragons?"

"H-Hai, it's a fantasy book a-about a dragon that protects a p-princess" said Hinata with a little smile, making Naruto think of Acnologia protecting a princess

'Like that would ever happen' deadpanned Naruto in his mind, knowing that his teacher would probably prefer to kill himself before protecting any human

After that both kids simply stayed in a comfortable silence, reading peacefully their own books. Of course Naruto shot some funny looks towards Hinata every time the girl giggled because of something she was reading, and after that the girl would blush a little bit, making Naruto chuckle. Of course neither of them noted the warm smile Kurenai directed at them from her desk, quite happy about how her daughter in all but blood was able to enjoy herself with a friend

Yep, it was just a normal day like any other

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

"I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun" Apologized Hinata once again, looking at her friend with a worried expression

"I already told you Hinata-chan, is fine" replied Naruto, who was right now holding a couple of boxed in his weren't that heavy, at least not for the young dragon slayer

"But still, I-I should be helping and..."

"Nonsense Hinata-chan, stop worrying about it, I'm glad I can be of help"

"B-but" started Hinata once again, making Naruto sweat drop at his friend attitude. Sure she might not be as shy as she was when they met but she was still quite the meek girl.

Just behind the two of them was Kurenai, who couldn't contain the chuckle that escaped her lips at seeing the interaction of those two. The red eyed beauty was also carrying some boxed, and right now her, and both Naruto and Hinata, where walking towards her house.

It was after a few hours that Kurenai had to go on an errand at the house of the local fisher, Tazuna. Of course Naruto being who he is volunteered to help, even though Kurenai had said that she could do it on its own.

The trio, consisted of Naruto, Kurenai and Hinata, reached Tazuna's house in which they were greeted by the man itself, who was obviously drunk, or at least that what it seemed. They were there to simply grab some things that Tazuna's daughter has used before getting married and that she didn't used anymore, so the old man had decided to give them to Kurenai, since he didn't had any use for them

Naruto's opinion of the man was that he was quite funny, and even if he could be quite annoying sometimes you could easily tell that he was a good man, even if he spent a good part of his day drinking and flirting with younger women

"Kurenai-san, how's Asuma-san doing?" asked Naruto, trying to change the subject so that Hinata could stop apologizing. As soon as he asked the question a small blush appeared on her face

"He's fine, I don't know how's that any of your business though" answered Kurenai with a huff, making Naruto chuckle and Hinata giggle. It was no secret how the man known as Asuman was attracted to the red-eyed beauty. It was really easy to notice considering the multiple attempts the man had done to woo Kurenai.

There was even a poll going on in the village about when were the two of them to finally become a couple.

It was after a few minutes of walking that the trio finally reached both Kurenai and Hinata's home. Said home was a normal two store-house, nothing really special about it just like the other houses in the village

The three of them entered the house, and after putting the boxes in the closet Kurenai decided that it was time for dinner. Now normally Naruto would have say that he didn't to take advantage of their hospitality, but after the first times Kurenai practically forced him to stay, saying that he was no bother and that he could stay anytime he wanted

This of course brought a smile to Naruto's face when he heard it. He was so happy that he hugged Kurenai who simply giggled and then Hinata, whose face became as red as a tomato when he did that. So now it was normal for Naruto to stay here every time he came to this village instead of his normal plan of seeping in the woods nearby

Yes, it was just a normal day in the village of Konoha

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_A few months later_

Naruto found himself doing one of the things he most did after training, and that was to sort the different dreams he had been having for a while

Normally Naruto would not being doing this if they were normal dreams, but of course they weren't. The dreams Naruto was having felt so real that calling them a dream was wrong in Naruto's opinion. The dreams were blurs though, since he could barely understand what happened in them. The only thing he could see clearly was a red-headed woman, a blond man that looked just like him and a black haired man with black eyes.

Every since Naruto started having dreams about this people he always wondered about who were they? Of course his first guess was that they were his family, or at least that they were related to him somehow. It was really easy to get to that conclusion considering how the blond man looked exactly like him, only that he was an adult.

The young boy tried to talk to Acnologia about it, but the powerful dragon didn't have any comments about it. Well he had a few, but they were nothing but annoying comments about stupid humans and their stupid dreams

'Stupid lizard' thought Naruto with a frown. He had always wondered why Acnologia seemed to hate humans with so much passion. He had wanted to ask but he knew better than that. He was sure that the black dragon would never tell him anything. Of course this also made Naruto think about the reason for Acnologia to train him. The dragon didn't like humans that was for sure, so why losing his time training one? Specially considering that he didn't even like Naruto at all, so why?

Of course the young blonde had no idea, but that was one of the mystery he so desperately wanted to figure out.

Another mystery of those was about that kunai that Naruto was holding in his hand. According to Acnologia this was the only thing Naruto had with himself, besides his clothes of course, when the dragon found him. One of the things that Naruto tried to investigate in the library was the markings that the weird triple bladed kunai had, but he could not find anything about it.

His second guess was to ask Kurenai, but the black-haired woman didn't know anything about it. The only thing she could tell him was that it was probably related to some type of magic, but what type no one knew

Not even Acnologia could tell him anything. And even though a part of him thought it was simply because the dragon didn't want to tell him what it did he finally reached to the conclusion that the dragon itself didn't know anything about the kunai

After all more than once Naruto had caught Acnologia looking at the weapon with a measuring gaze, before simply grunting and ignoring all together

So in the end Naruto still didn't know what did those marks mean, but that didn't stop him from always carrying the weapons everywhere he went. For some reason he felt safer when he had it, like he knew it would protect him somehow. That and the weird sense of nostalgic that the kunai gave him made him think that it was definitely related to his forgotten past.

It was just another one of those mysteries that surrounded Naruto's life, but the blonde promised himself that somehow he would figure this out

After all it was something that probably connected him to his past, and everything that did that important to Naruto

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_A Few Days later_

"W-what happened here?!" were the first words Naruto said as soon as he entered the village that he had come to call home

Today what the normal day for Acnologia to leave Naruto close to the village of Konoha. Even though Naruto always waited for this day with anticipation he felt that something was wrong as soon as he woke up. Besides that Acnologia was completely silent for some reason, not making any comments about Naruto's strength or any general comments about how humans where nothing but insects

Nothing

Of course the young blonde was not going so say anything and ruin the break he had from the normal behavior of the black dragon, so he simply accepted the fact that today, for some reason, Acnologia had acted different before leaving him in the outskirts on the village.

Every since he started walking towards the small village of Konoha the weird feeling Naruto had when he woke up had become worse, so after half the walking the young blonde decided to run just to get there fast. He didn't knew what was making him feel like this, but he definitely didn't like it, so the only thing he wanted to do was reach the village, go to the library and read some books and play with Hinata-chan

If only life was that simple

The first thing that got him was the smell. A powerful smell of decay that Naruto had never felt before. The second thing that got him was the sight he got as soon as he reached the towns entrance.

The small yet beautiful and simply village that became something like a home to Naruto was no more. No, what was left instead could only be describes as some ruins. The multiple houses and building were now nothing but destroyed ruble.

As soon at Naruto saw this a sense of dread made itself present on his heart. What happened here? Who did this? Where's everyone? Those were the questions that plagued Naruto's mind. After getting ridden of the initial shock the young blonde ran as fast as he legs could carry him towards Kurenai and Hinata's house. He had to make sure they were ok!

That's when his mind started going a mile per hour. What if something happened to them? Naruto quickly shock his head trying to get rid of those thoughts. They have to be fine after all

Or at least that what Naruto wanted to believe

The young blond ran until he got to the little park that was at the middle of the village. He had to go in this direction to reach his friend house after all. Sadly for him what he saw just made this day the worst of his life

The park that was once so full of life was now, to make it simple, dead. The grass and the threes were completely burned and the small fountain was tinted in a crimson red. That wasn't what got Naruto's completely attention though. No, what really got him shacked up was the unmoving form of a young man, probably in his twenties, simply lying there in the grass, a pool of a crimson liquid that Naruto guessed was blood under him.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror at this sight, after all he had never seen a corpse. It was kind of hard for that to happen since he spent almost all of his time in a forest when there were no one but some animals and the rest of his time he spent it in this village that used to be a safe place

But now it looked like hell had made it through here

It was after seeing the death body that Naruto's attention when to his surrounding, something that in his hurry he had ignored. And what he saw was definitely something that no ten year old kid should ever see.

More death bodies were lying there on the ground. Some of them face down, but others were in the ground on their back, so Naruto could easily see the expression of horror that was imprinted in their faces. Some of the bodies where even missing some limbs, while others looked like they had been burned to dead.

Naruto brought a hand to his mouth, his eyes completely open in horror and his whole body shaking. The young blonde could not believe what he was seeing; it looked like something that got out from some horror story or something. How could this happen? Who could have done something as horrible at this? Those were the questions that plagued the boys mind

Naruto had to use all of his force of will to get out of his horror induced estate before he started running, prying to whatever god that existed that both Hinata and Kurenai were ok. That they had somehow escaped this horror. That they were fine

Another part of him prayed for this to be nothing but a nightmare. Sadly what he was experiencing was very much real, and it was something that would mark him for ever

After running some more Naruto finally reached his friend's house. And for his utter horror said house was too destroyed completely just like the others. The boy had still hope though; after all he truly wanted to believe that they were safe

"Kurenai-san! Hinata-chan!" yelled Naruto while moving the rubles of their house, hoping that he would hear something, _anything_ that suggested that they were fine. It was after moving one of the biggest pieces of wood that Naruto saw something that almost made him yell in despair

The body of the woman known as Kurenai Yuhi was lying there under the ruins if her house, her face pale and her eyes open wide. A trail of blood already dry present from her lips to her chin. The young blonde touched her left arm, which was the only other part of her body that could be seen beside her face, and his face once again adopted a horrified expression at feeling just how cold she was.

Naruto gasped and started walking backwards, her eyes wide and his whole body trembling even more than before. This time though there actual tears falling from the young boys face. He wasn't an expert but he could easily tell. She was dead. One of the few people that he cared the more was death.

After going back to the street and out of the rubble Naruto legs finally gave up and the boy and the boy felt to his knees, His gaze focused on the destroyed house that once held so much happiness, his eyes releasing fresh tears every second and his breath shallow. The young dragon slayer was even more afraid of searching and finding the dead body of his first friend, Hinata. He didn't know what he would do if he found her like that. A part of him wanted to believe that she might still be alive, but the more realistic part of him had to accept the fact that it was almost impossible for that to be the truth

So big was Naruto's feelings in this moment that he almost ignored the feeling of the powerful gust of wind, the flap of wings and the small temblor that were signature of the landing of the last being he wanted to face now

Acnologia

Of course the black dragon didn't have any problem in landing in top of some destroyed buildings; he was too big to simply land on the streets after all. The king of dragons focused his gaze in the trembling form of his apprentice, but there was no compassion in those white eyes, no, there was nothing more but annoyance and a glint of something that Naruto could not figure out

**"Weak"**started Acnologia, his deep voice resounding everywhere **"You humans are nothing but fragile creatures... Not only you die easily, but you can feel hurt by nothing but feelings. Humans die all the time ningen, some of them die by natural means, while others... Let's just say that you humans truly enjoy killing each other. So I see no reason for you to shed tears by the death of a few"**

At hearing this Naruto's eyes finally went from the former house if his friend to the dragon that had been training him since he was four.

"You... you knew... you knew what had happened here" Whispered Naruto, saying like it was a fact, which pretty much was. After all for what other reason would Acnologia appear here out of nowhere after dumping Naruto if he didn't know this place was already like this.

**"Yes, I did"** confirmed the black dragon like it was nothing, almost like he was discussing the weather. Of course this answer did nothing but made Naruto's sadness turn into nothing but pure rage.

"Then why!? Why the hell didn't you tell me!? Why the hell didn't you help them!?" asked Naruto enraged. Of course he knew that Acnologia would never help humans, but he was too upset to care about that at this moment

**"And miss that priceless expression of despair on your face? I don't think so... After all you have to live for the simplest things, don't you?"** replied the dragon darkly, making Naruto eyes to widen before his face turned into a snarl, his feeling towards his sensei going to annoyance to pure and simply hate

"You... You BASTARD!" yelled Naruto more than ready to attack Acnologia even though it would probably do nothing. The black dragon seemed to know this though, since as soon as Naruto got up Acnologia stomped the ground with his paw, hard, making a temblor that made Naruto fall on his but. After this the powerful dragon closed the distance between his face and Naruto's body, more than ready to teach the little insect a lesson

**"And what are you going to do about it? Attack me? Kill me? You can't... want to know why? Because you are weak. Humans are nothing but a race that think too highly of themselves... and you are no different. You should feel glad I haven't killed you yet ningen"** growled Acnologia, meeting Naruto's heated glare with one of his own. The powerful dragon retreated his head to give the blond boy some space. After that Acnologia saw how Naruto's eyes went from a glare to a lost expression just before he curled himself in a ball and started sobbing. He cried, he cried for his dead friends. He cried for everyone that died here. He cried for he was once again alone

**"Consider this a lesson ningen... humans die all the time, and you must learn to deal with it. I won't have an apprentice that cried every time he sees the dead ones. I won't have such a weak human like that under my wing"**announced Acnologia, his white eyes looking at the sobbing form of his apprentice with nothing short of disdain.

Zeref had said so himself, he didn't have to care about the little runt, just train him, and that he did. If it meant having to traumatize the boy a little bit then he was fine by that. His training was no joke after all; he would make the boy as strong as he could, even if it meant breaking him a little bit.

After all what didn't kill you make you stronger, right?

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**Well this is the start of the fic and I believe the chapter itself answers the question about if I was going to make a fluffy Acnologia or not. While I could have made that work I thought it would be better to have a dark/evil Acnologia training Naruto. It seemed more interesting that way**

**Now I know that some of you reader might have some issues with the time travel mentioned in the prologue, so I want to confirm that it will be explained completely in future chapters. Of course I know that touching time travel in any way might make a mess out of any story (I'm still wrapping my head around the time travel in Fairy Tail to be honest), so I'll make sure to explain it in a way that won't ruin the fic for anyone, or at least that's what I hope**

**Now I know some people (probably a lot) won't like what I did to Kurenai. Heck I didn't really like but it had to be done for the sake of the plot. And for those that are fan of Hinata (and for those that aren't) I suggest you to wait until next chapter before flaming me for "killing her", which I didn't… Or did I?**

**As always thanks you everyone that read this chapter and of course thanks to everyone that followed, favorite or reviewed this fic. Especially those with suggestions and constructive criticism that might help to make this fic better**

**Next Chapter: the dragon leaves and Naruto meets certain daughter of the Sky Dragon**


	3. Darkness Meets Sky

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 2**

**Darkness Meets Sky**

_3 years later, year x777_

Three year have passed since Naruto lost what some people would call his 'Innocence'. Even when he was being trained by someone like Acnologia, Naruto still had nothing but the purest of all soul. Naruto, like a lot of kids at his age, of course believed that there was nothing wrong with the world, and that good always prevailed over evil

To put it simply, Naruto was naive.

That changed though, the day he had to burry all of the bodies of the people that lived in the place he had started to think of as a home

It wasn't easy, and more than once Naruto either broke up crying or puked at seeing the remains of people he knew, but he had told himself that ne had to do it. They needed, no they _deserved_ a proper burial, and Naruto wouldn't let his weakness stop him from accomplish such a task

Of course he received no help from Acnologia, who was rather annoyed that Naruto stopped training just to bury some corps, but Naruto didn't care, and he ended up being able to bury every last body.

The last thing the blonde did before leaving the village of Konoha for good was craving a message in a stone and put it where the entrance of the village was, believing that if anyone came through here in the future they should know about the tragedy that had happened here

_Here Lies A Proud Village_

_Here Lies My Family_

_May Their Sacrifice Never Be Forgotten_

_May They Rest in Peace_

After that Naruto never went back to the village. For a while the young blonde blamed himself for what had happened. He believed that maybe if he was there during the attack to the village he might have been able to help. He was a mage after all.

His sorrow and self-blame turned into nothing but anger after a while. Naruto wanted nothing but to find the responsible for the massacre and destroy them with his own hands. With those thoughts Naruto pushed himself as hard as he could into his training, to the point that Acnologia had to knock the blonde unconscious more than once, after all there was training and then there was what Naruto was doing, and the last thing Acnologia wanted was the boy suffering permanent damage just because of some insect's death

Or to be more precise the last thing he wanted was to answer to Zeref if something like that happened to the blonde.

There was something that gave some hope to Naruto though. It was something simply but it didn't stop the young blonde from grasping it like a life line

He wasn't able to find the body of his friend, Hinata Hyuga

That of course meant one of two things. Either she had managed to escape, which was very unlikely, or the once that attacked had captured her instead of killing her. That idea, while problematic on itself, still gave Naruto hope. Maybe his friend was alive? Maybe he could save her?

But he wasn't strong enough for that, so he needed to train

To become stronger, so that something like that never had to happen again

Another thing that Naruto had found in the destroyed village had been a flag, with some sort of symbol that he couldn't recognize. It was obviously not from the village since he had never seen it there before, so he ended up with a simply conclusion. It had to belong to the one that did it; there was no other option in Naruto's mind

And it was after a year that Naruto finally found the name of the guild that had that flag as their logo

_Grimoire Heart_

It was after that day that Naruto made a decision. Dark guilds like Grimoire Heart were nothing but the worst kind of scum that existed in this world. Naruto knew that not even the Magical Counsel was doing anything to stop them. They were powerless. Someone needed to enter the game and bring punishment to those criminals

And if no one else would do it, then Naruto himself would.

Right now, after three more years of harsh training Naruto had become strong young man without a doubt. Even if Acnologia didn't want to admit it Naruto had truly surpassed his expectations.

His strength wasn't the only thing that changed though. While before the incident Naruto was a cheerful and innocent boy, the new Naruto was now calm, cool and collected. He wasn't cold or emotionless, but he definitely stopped being as exuberant as he was before

If Zeref were to be here he would have just muttered one sentence about Naruto's personality

"Just like your father"

The young blonde was right now overlooking a very big forest from a top of a cliff, his blue eyes looking at the place with determination. In the last three years Naruto had definitely grow. He was now taller, and his body was lean and healthy and his golden hair now reached his shoulders, with two jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. Naruto's outfit had changed too. Now the young blonde was wearing a completely black short-sleeved haori, with an outline of blue flames at the bottom of it. At the back of the haori was a symbol of a spiral in the color of red. Naruto didn't know why, but that symbol was on the sheet that Acnologia had found him with, and Naruto had, for some reason that not even him understand, wanted to add that symbol to his clothes. Besides that he was wearing under the haori a simply black long-sleeved shirt and black pants with dark blue shoes. He also had the same necklace he always wore wound his neck and the kunai Acnologia found him with was secured in a holster in his right leg

Just behind the boy was the dragon that had trained him for the last nine years, Acnologia. The massive black dragon was looking at the blue sky, apparently lost in his thoughts.

The relationship between Naruto and Acnologia hadn't changed at all in the past three years; in fact it actually became worse. Naruto had stopped trying to create a bond with the powerful dragon and accepted that the only relationship they would ever have would be of teacher and student. Of course Acnologia was more than content with that kind of relationship since the last thing he ever wanted was to become the _father_ of a human.

Naruto had wondered for a while why was Acnologia training him if he dislikes humans so much? He had asked the dragon but he got nothing from him, so Naruto got stuck with that doubt on his head ever since

Another thing that had changed was their training location. After the destruction of Konoha, Acnologia decided that keeping Naruto close tot hat place would just distract him too much in his training, so he took him away. This was also so that Naruto could go to another village and keep learning things

It was thanks to that that Naruto found the information he needed about Grimoire Heart. He had found a book about the dark guild of the last century in the local library of the new village he had started visiting and in that book he had found the same logo that was on the flag he had found in what was left of Konoha.

Beside's that Naruto didn't do anything important in the new village. He mostly kept away from everyone. He would just go and read something and then be back to the place in which Acnologia would pick him up

It was that same routine that he had followed the last three years, but today would be different and both Acnologia and Naruto knew it. The dragon had told the young blonde a month ago and today he was more than ready

**"Got everything you need, ningen?"** Acnologia's deep voice made Naruto turn towards him before simply giving him a nod, to which the dragon answered with one himself

In one day it would be the seventh day of the seventh month of the year x777, and that date was sacred for every dragon, even Acnologia. Every dragon that had a son or daughter would 'abandon' them in that day, but Acnologia decided to do it today instead. The blonde human had already learned almost anything Acnologia could teach him, the rest was something he would learn with experience, and that was something Acnologia couldn't teach. Besides the black dragon was already more than tired of loosing his time training a human. He had done what Zeref had asked him and trained the boy, and now he was finally free.

For a few moments neither Naruto nor Acnologia said anything. They just stared at the eyes of the other one until Naruto voiced a question he had for a while

"Will I ever see you again?" There was no longing or worry in Naruto's voice, just mere curiosity. The blonde knew he would not miss the dragon, but he was curios about this being their last meeting or not

**"You better hope we don't, ningen, because if we do I'll crush you like if you were any other human"** growled Acnologia, his eyes doing the dragon equivalent of a glare. Zeref may have forced him to train him, but he had already done that, which meant that he owed the powerful dark lord nothing else. If he ever met Naruto again then consequence be damn, he wasn't going to go al softy on him. He has trained him to kill dragons, and he was a dragon

They were now, in Acnologia's opinion, mortal enemies

The fact that he was a human didn't help neither

Naruto took his answer in stride, already knowing that their relationship was like that. He had one last thing to say though, something that had become a personal promise every since Acnologia started training him

"In that case, next time we see each other I promise you that I will strong enough to defeat you... you can count on that... sensei" were the last words Naruto said before starting walking the path down the cliff and into the forest. Acnologia had, for some reason, decided to drop him in a different place from the one they lived the last three years, for what reason he didn't know, nor really care. Right now he would just explore the area and work from there

Meanwhile Acnologia's wind flapped violently, just before the massive dragon took the skies like only a being of his race could. His gaze lingered in the now retreating form of the boy he had trained the last 9 years, and only one thought went in his head before he lost him in the distance

**'Then you better not die, ningen. It was me who taught you everything you know... So it's only appropriate that it will be me the one that will end your existence'**

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_The next day, at the middle of a forest_

"I'm lost, aren't I?" said a rather annoyed Naruto, swearing for his life that he had passed the same damn tree five times already. He had been wandering in this infernal forest for a whole day already, only resting in the night, and he had been able to just discover one thing

He was lost

Now he knew why Acnologia had dropped him somewhere else. He had probably just wanted to mess up with Naruto, or maybe he hoped that Naruto would starve to death by walking in circled in this damn forest

Sadly with Acnologia both reasons were quite possible

Not wanting to lose more time Naruto just kept walking. The sun was high on the sky and there were no clouds on sight. That was at least nice enough; after all, the last thing Naruto wanted was to be lost with rain pouring everywhere.

With a sigh Naruto started eating the apple that was on his hand, truly not knowing what else to do. Naruto's plan right now was quite simple. He needed to become strong. He had swore to himself that he would put a stop to the dark guilds like Grimoire Heart that liked to destroy lives just for the fun of it or for money, but for that he needed to become stronger than that, and Naruto had a simple idea of how to do that

He needed to join a guild

Joining one would give him a lot of benefits. First he could easily use the missions that guild member did in order to gain experience and train, beside the normal monetary reward that missions offered. Joining a guild would also make him be able to met other mages, after all guilds were full of them, and Naruto could gain valuable information from them

He just needed to find a good guild to join. He had heard rumors about one that was one of the best. That of course picked Naruto's interest a lot.

Now if only he could find a way to escape the dreaded labyrinth that was this forest!

Naruto's mind was taken out of his thoughts when his nose caught quite a weird smell. Of course he being a dragon slayer meant that his senses had engaged a lot. It was a simply boost from this type of magic.

Naruto sniffed a few times, his head evaluating what to do now. The smell wasn't unfamiliar since he had spent years with someone that smelled like that, but that was the reason for it being so weird. He was sure that Acnologia wasn't around since he had definitely not came back to wish Naruto good luck

So why was his nose catching the essence of a dragon nearby?

Deciding that it was better to check just in case, Naruto followed the smell as quiet as he could, after all there was still the chance that it was another dragon, although that was definitely unlikely, but not impossible, and if it was true the last thing Naruto wanted was to show his presence that fast

He was, after all, a dragon slayer. He didn't want to find out how a dragon would react to his presence

His experience with Acnologia had not been a good one after all

It was after following the smell for a while that Naruto's ears caught a sound. It was another thing that he recognized. It was the same sound Hinata made before he fended of those bullies years ago

But why was someone crying?

Now Naruto was definitely curious, so kept going to the place in which both the smell and the sound originated from, and what he found definitely surprised him

What Naruto found was none other than a little girl that could not be older than five years old. Said girl was now slumped against a tree, her knees closed touching her forehead and her arms around them, with sobs escaping her lips every second. The girl had shoulder length dark blue hair, and was wearing a simple white shirt with blue shorts

Now Naruto might had become better at controlling his emotions and impulsive actions, but not even him could just ignore a little girl that was definitely in anguish for some reason. Where were her parents? And why did she smell like a dragon so much

Naruto had only one theory, but if it was really true then he definitely won the lottery here, finding someone like him

Moving carefully the young blonde started walking towards the little crying girl, doing his best to not alarm her, although she was definitely distracted of her surroundings. Once he reached a closer distance Naruto decided to announce his presence, or else he might scare her if he did any sudden moves.

"Hey there, little one. Are you ok?" Not knowing what to say Naruto just decides to throw a question, using his best soothing voice. The little girl tensed for a moment before looking up to him, allowing Naruto to see her tears stricken brown eyes, which were looking at him with no little amount of fear

He quickly decided that he didn't like that look

"Don't worry" said Naruto while holding his hand in front of him opened, showing that he had nothing on them. He was also kneeling to be able to be at her same eye level "I'm not going to hurt you; I just wanted to make sure that you were ok"

The little girl just looked at Naruto's eyes with the same scared expression, but after a few moments the little girl sniffed a couple of times, and then her eyes widened even more just before the fear in her eyes turned into hope

Naruto didn't know what had made her change so quickly, but he wasn't going to lose this chance

"Could you tell me your name? Mine is Naruto" asked the blonde with a warm smile. For a moment it seemed that the little girl was not going to answer, until she muttered something under her breath that Naruto only heard thanks to his enhanced hearing

"W-Wendy M-M-Marvell" muttered the now identified Wendy, getting a nod and a smile from Naruto, who started looking around before concentrating on the now curious Wendy again

"A pleasure to meet you, Wendy-chan" said Naruto with a smile, getting a shy and small smile from the little girl "What are you doing here alone, Wendy-chan? I mean, where are your parents?" asked the blonde, who mentally kicked himself when he saw Wendy's dejected face when he mentioned her parents. The girl sniffed a few times before whipping the tears on her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and then looking down with sadness obvious on her expression

"I-I don't k-know, I can't f-find Kaa-san. I w-woke up today but she wasn't t-there" said Wendy in a truly sad tone with a downcast gaze, making Naruto release a sigh. It looked like his suspicion was becoming truer by the second

Gently Naruto stroked Wendy's head in a loving way, getting a surprised expression from the little girl, who of course wasn't use to receive affection from other than her adoptive mother.

Of course Wendy had been worried when she woke up and her mother hadn't been there with her. That never happened, her mother would always stay with her and even when she left to gather food she didn't leave for any long periods of times, but today it has been hours since her mother disappeared, so Wendy started thinking the worst

That her mother had abandoned her

She truly didn't know what to do in a situation like this, so she ended up just pouring her heart out and crying her eyes out, hoping that she was overreacting and that her mother would come back to her

Of course that didn't happen, but she definitely wasn't expecting to meet someone that smelled so much like a dragon. Wendy, while young, was a pretty good judge of character, something that was part her natural talent and parts her training as a dragon slayer, so when Naruto came and talked to girl she couldn't felt anything but kindness and worry coming from him

Naruto's next words definitely caught the young girl by surprise, since she wasn't expecting an offer like this one

"Ne, Wendy-chan, would you like to come with me? I don't feel right about leaving a little girl like you here alone, and who knows? We might find some cues about where your mother is" Naruto knew that was highly unlikely, but right now the last thing he wanted was to crush the young bluenette's hope of finding her mother "We are both Dragon Slayer after all, we should stick together, shouldn't we? If you ask me we're practically family!" continued Naruto with a big grin, trying to find the best words to sooth the young girl. It was true that he didn't want to leave her alone like this, specially considering the fact that her mother would probably not come back, that was of course if his suspicion was correct and she was a dragon slayer like him, but considering how her eyes went wide when he said that he was sure he had nailed it

Meanwhile Wendy's head was working at a mile per second, her brown eyes looking at Naruto with no little amount of shock. He was really a dragon slayer just like her! Not only that but he had called her his family, just because they were both dragon slayer, and he was even offering her to travel with him! Now if there was something that Wendy wanted more than anything else in the world it was simple: friends and family

Of course Wendy had her mother, but she still felt longing for some real friends. She wanted to meet people that she could play with, spent time and just have fun. Wendy loved her mother dearly, but that didn't stop her from dreaming of having friends

But now her mother was gone, and there was a little part of Wendy that told her that she wouldn't find her for a long time. Being alone was one of the little girl's biggest nightmares, and she thought it would come true now that her adoptive mother wasn't here

Naruto had changed that

Without a warning the young Wendy did something that her shyful personality would normally stop her from doing. She actually _leaped_ and hugged Naruto life if he was a life-line, almost making the boy stumble to the ground. The young girl was now releasing new tears, but they weren't of sadness but of relieved. She wasn't going to be alone! She didn't have to feel so lonely! He had even said they were family!

That was everything Wendy wanted.

Meanwhile Naruto was quite surprised by Wendy's action. He thought getting the young girl's trust was going to be a lot harder than this, but either Wendy liked to trust people really fast or he had done something really good. Naruto didn't care for her reason though, so he just sat there, hugging the small girl, giving her comfort and muttering soothing words to calm her

This was definitely not what Naruto had expected when he started his journey

But he definitely had no reason to complain, did he?

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_A few days later_

"Onii-chan, what do you think will come out of it?" asked a happy Wendy, her hands holding the object of her thoughts since yesterday

"Hmm, don't know Wendy-chan. It could be anything... like a cat!" replied a grinning Naruto while looking at the object in Wendy's hand with interest. His answer of course got a little giggle from the younger girl

"Cats don't come out of eggs, Onii-chan"

"Ah! But it might be a magical cat!"

Right now both Naruto and Wendy were walking along the earth path that Wendy had showed to Naruto after their meeting. They didn't know to where it led, but they simply decided that it was better to follow the path that to go through the forest and get lost like Naruto did at the beginning

Since their meeting Wendy had decided to refer to Naruto as her 'Older brother', to which Naruto had no reason to say no, after all it was him who had said that they were family, something that Naruto really believed, after all they were both raised by dragons, and dragons used to leave in a community in which everyone were practically one big family, so it was a logical assumption that Wendy and him were siblings in everything but blood

They had shared stories about their past, and about the dragons that raised them. Of course Naruto omitted the saddest parts about his life, and even lied about how Acnologia treated him, not wanting to sadden Wendy who had nothing but happy moments with her mother, Grandeeny.

"But whit those marks I really don't know what type of egg is. Sorry, Wendy-chan, we'll just have to wait until whatever is there to get out" continued Naruto while scratching his cheek, to which Wendy simply shocked her head and kept looking at the object in her arms with rapt attention

Said object was nothing more than an egg, only that this one was definitely different that any normal eggs Naruto had seen before. For starts this egg was bigger, and it also had some weird pink marks around it that Naruto had never seen before neither.

They had found the egg, or more like the egg had found them while they were walking yesterday. They simply decided to take a rest under the shadow of a tree and as soon as they got comfortable the egg actually felt from said tree and hit Naruto on the head before falling in Wendy's lap.

The little girl had quickly decided that it was her job to watch over the egg, and Naruto had no power to say her no when he saw the pleading expression she gave him, so in the end they started travelling once again, only that this time they had a mysterious egg with them

It was after walking for a while that both Naruto and Wendy finally reached a clearing at the end of the road, but this clearing wasn't empty. No, there were remains of tents and some old buildings, with not a sign of life in any of them

This just brought some dark memories to Naruto's head, but he quickly got rid of those before Wendy caught notice of him frowning. For such a young girl she could easily tell when something was wrong with him, something that became obvious every time Naruto got caught up with some sad thoughts and Wendy asked him about it

It became easier for Naruto when he realized that the place didn't look like it was attacked or destroyed, just abandoned, and for a long time if the state of the different edifications were any clue

Not knowing what else to do Naruto and Wendy started walking through the ghost town, Wendy having a tight grip of Naruto's hand while the blonde used the other one to carry the egg, while his eyes looked around in case there was someone here that might surprise them

"O-onii-chan, look!" alerted a rather scared Wendy, signaling something just in front of the pair

Naruto and Wendy ended up in what seemed like the biggest ruins of the place, but that wasn't what caught Wendy's attention, but rather the figure that was sitting in one of the remains of the destroyed building

"Wendy-chan, stay close" ordered Naruto, making Wendy's grip on his hand to become fiercer. The young blonde started walking towards the sitting man, allowing him to see who exactly this person was

Said person was old, definitely old, and short too, to the point in which Naruto didn't knew if he was bigger or smaller than Wendy. This man had a long white beard, complete with a mustache, which extended up on his face's sides, making for a large pair of sideburns and his two bushy eyebrows as well. On his forehead was a tattoo, composed of a dot surrounded by two arched stripes. His attire was weird, composed of a large headgear made of feathers, with more, lighter-colored feathers adorning the back of his waist. He had a light cloth tied circling his waist, paired with loose dark pants reaching below his knees and simple shoes, and his chest was bare, with a necklace seemingly made of massive teeth around his neck, hanging over it. He also sported a large bracelet on each arm's bicep, and some bandages wrapped around the forearms.

Right now the old man's eyes were closed, and it looked like he was either sleeping or in deep concentration. Naruto couldn't felt anything coming from this guy, literally. He knew he was there since he could see him, but there was something definitely off

But in the end it was Naruto's natural curiosity the one that made him get close to the man.

"Oi, Oji-san!" Naruto tried getting the man's attention, but his attempt just got nothing from the guy, so with a frown Naruto's hand started reaching the man's shoulder in order to get his attention.

But almost as soon as he touched his shoulder his eyes opened wide and his gaze bore into Naruto's surprised one. For a moment neither of them said anything, until the old man opened his mouth apparently to speak...

"Gruuughhh!"

But the only thing that came out were weird noised and an even weirder liquid, but this of course got Naruto's guard up, and with a quick reflex that was born from nothing but hours of training in years Naruto's right fist impacted in the men face, knocking him out of were he was sitting and putting him into a deep unconscious state

"Crap" swore Naruto, face-palming with his right hand, while the other one was holding the egg still. Naruto knew that what he just did was probably an overreaction, but the man just surprised him

This wasn't by far the first time something like this happened. Naruto had, in the past, smashed some people in the ground when they suddenly touched his shoulder from behind or yelled at him out of nowhere

He didn't like to do it, but sadly it happened

He blamed Acnologia for that

Naruto's attention went to his palm for some reason. He remembered that there was someone who was holding his hand down, so how did he manage to land a hit so easily? When Naruto looked down his answer became obvious

Just behind him there was the passed out form of Wendy, who had apparently passed out because of fear. Naruto couldn't really blame her, in fact he shouldn't have let her come here, but leaving her alone was probably more dangerous, or so he thought

With a sigh Naruto observed the two unconscious people around him, one a little child and the other one an old man, and only one thought came to his head

'Well, now what?'

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_A few days later_

"Once again, I'm really sorry, Roubaul-san" apologized Naruto for the tenth time just today, making the old man known as Roubaul to waver his apologize with a chuckle

"I-I'm sorry too, Roubaul-san!" Wendy once again followed Naruto's lead, which just brought another chuckle from said Roubaul

"And I already told you it's all under the bridge" answered Roubaul before taking a drink from a bottle, completely ignoring the cup he just served for himself

"Honestly the man doesn't care, so you should stop saying you're sorry, Naruto, Wendy!" came a voice from the top of Wendy's head, which made the young girl chuckle awkwardly

The owner from said voice was none other than a cat, with white fur, pink ears and brown eyes. This little female talking cat was none other than Carla, who came out of the egg that Wendy and Naruto had found days ago.

After the little incident that was the meeting between Naruto and Roubaul, the young blonde had no choice but to stay and wait until the man woke up, after all he had to apologize since he just knocked out the man without a second thought just because of his reflex

After the man had finally woken up what came next were a set of apologize from Naruto, who believed that the old man, whose name was actually Roubaul, was going to be at least angry at being hit in the face out of nowhere

Naruto was surprised though, when instead of being angry Roubaul just took everything in stride. He even joked about receiving a good hit once in a while wasn't that bad.

It was after that that Roubaul actually offered Naruto a place to stay until Wendy gets back to the lands of living. Naruto was more than a little hesitant to accept the offer, considering that the place in which they were was definitely not a touristic point, but it was all fixed when Roubaul actually used magic to change the whole house, turning in a small, yet comfy house.

Of course Naruto would have normally be a little apprehensive at seeing such a powerful form of magic, after all being able to use illusions so powerful that they felt real was definitely not somthing any mage could do, but Roubaul just stroked Naruto as an honest and good man, although a little eccentric, so the young blonde ended up accepting his offer

It was at the next day, in which Wendy was already up and apologizing for Kami known's why to Roubaul, that the egg that Naruto and Wendy had actually broke, and from it the less expected being came out

A cat... that could talk... and fly too

Naruto meant it like a joke, but seeing at first glance definitely surprised him

The little Carla (It was Wendy the one who gave her a name) acted quite mature, strict and serious for a new born, even if she was a magical cat or whatever she was. The young cat took a liking to Wendy and Naruto quite fast, to which Naruto joked that she probably saw the two of them like her parents, something that brought a dazed look to Wendy and an annoyed huff accompanied with a blush to the young cat

And the next day brought today's situation. Since Wendy was already more than good to travel and now Carla had born they were ready to start travelling again.

Right now Roubaul was wishing them good luck just on the outskirts of the abandoned village. Naruto had asked Roubaul why did he stay in a place like this, to which Roubaul had simply answered just answered that it was difficult to let go of the past, something that Naruto understood easily

"I'm going to m-miss you, Roubaul-san" said a tear eyed Wendy, trying het best to control the tears that threatened to escape her eyes. The young girl had definitely taken a like to the weird old man, so having to leave him was something that saddened her a lot.

"Me too, little one. But don't worry, I'm sure we will see one another again!" comforted a rather sad Roubaul, who had truly enjoyed the company of the two youngsters and their cat, even if it was a short meeting. Wendy answered with a small nod and then she gave a hug to the surprised man, who returned it in kind. After that Wendy gave some space for Naruto and Roubaul, Carla on besides her doing her best to calm the little girl down

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" asked Roubaul to Naruto, to which the young blonde answered with a sincere small and negative shake of his head

Roubaul had offered him sanctuary here, even going to the extent of creating a guild using his illusions, just so that both him and Wendy weren't forced to be alone, and even though Naruto was more than grateful to him, he just couldn't accept his offer. For starters even if he make illusions that acted like people in a guild they were still going to be just that, illusions, and Naruto now had to act in Wendy's best interest too, and for that the young blonde wanted to go to a guild that would treat her like a family and that wouldn't disappear once Roubaul couldn't keep the illusion any longer

"I'm sorry, Oji-san, but there are some things that I need to do, and I have to find a safe place for Wendy-chan too" was Naruto's answer, which got an understanding nod from Roubaul, who couldn't blame wanting to find the best for Wendy

"Fine then, but you still owe me a drink, gaki!" replied Roubaul, getting a smirk from Naruto. The two of them shook hands, and Naruto started walking to where Wendy was waiting for him.

But just before that Naruto turned one more time, getting a raised eye-brow from Roubaul

"I don't know what is keeping you here, Old man, but I promise you that when I become strong enough I will come back to get rid of your burden so that you can finally rest in peace" said Naruto with a serious face and determination in his voice, getting a surprised expression from Roubaul

They were just here two days, but Naruto was able to discover why Roubaul's presence felt so weird. It was something that Acnologia taught him, how to feel the presence of people just to never be caught of guard.

In the end what he got was that, even though Roubaul was obviously there with him, he wasn't able to feel him properly, almost like he was never there to begin there. That alongside what Naruto discover about Roubaul while they were talking, which was that the Old man was someone who's past was hunting him even now, brought a theory to Naruto's head

He still didn't know if his theory was true, but there was definitely something that was heavy on Roubaul's conscience, and Naruto, even though he would never admit it, had a helping people thing. If someone needed his help, then Naruto would not give his back to that person no matter what

It was just who he was

It was because of that that Naruto just made that promise, and it was apparently the right thing to do since it brought a true smile to Roubaul's lips, and there where even some tears escaping his eyes

"In that case I will hold you to that one, kid" was Roubaul's answer, who then tried to act thought by drinking from his liquor bottle. Naruto chuckled a little bit before reaching to where Wendy was. After that the two of them kept walking until the form of Roubaul was out of the sight, and after that Wendy directed a curious look at her older brother figure

"What did you two talk about, Onii-chan" Wendy was curious about it, after all even she could see how Naruto's words had affected Roubaul, but she couldn't listen them

Naruto chuckled again a little bit, his hand rubbing Wendy's hair. Carla was right now resting on his head, apparently enjoying the feeling of his golden locks

"Nothing Wendy-chan, just the promise of a lifetime"

And with that the two dragon slayers and the magical cat continued their path, not knowing that another one would soon join them.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**Nothing much to say about this chapter. It worked mostly just to show some important stuff before the plot really starts.**

**I'm sorry about the lateness of this chapter, but right now my focus is on my other fic, so updates for this one will probably come slowly. I will try to get the next chapter faster though**

**I have to say I was surprised by the reception this fic got. I mean, more than 150 favorites and followers with just 2 chapters? You guys rock!**

**Next Chapter: A meeting with another Dragon Slayer**


	4. Three Dragons Are Not a Crowd

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 3**

**Three Dragons Are Not a Crowd**

It was now almost midnight in the little town of Kusa, and just like many other towns in the countryside like this one, an Inn was present in it. Said Inn was small and not really a big thing, but it worked more than well for our group of protagonists

In one of the rooms of the Inn there were our trio of heroes, Naruto Uzumaki, Wendy Marvell and the young cat Carla.

The room itself was small, with only a bed, a small desk with a chair in a small lamp. It was of course located in the second floor of the Inn, since the first one also worked as bar

In the small bed there was a sleeping Wendy, already tucked in and everything, while on the desk Carla was sitting watching Wendy with a small smile, alongside Naruto who was in the chair, either putting some stuff in a little bag pack he had gotten or smiling at the peacefully sleeping little girl

It's been a few days since they have left Roubaul's home, and even though Naruto had no problem to sleep in the open, he wanted to find a safe, comfy and warm bed for Wendy, which was the reason they had stopped in this town

Naruto didn't know why, but even though he had just met the little girl just a week ago he was already feeling quite protective over her. For some reason he just wanted to make sure that she was safe and happy all the time

It was definitely a strange feeling, to care for someone like that. Sure he had really cared about Hinata, but that and this were completely different.

His friendship with Hinata had started rather slow, since Naruto couldn't stay in the village for long, and Hinata's shy demeanor didn't help neither, but with Wendy it was different. In only a week the blonde had become truly attached to the girl, to the point he had started thinking of her needs before his own.

He didn't know if that was natural or not, he only knew that he wanted to make sure Wendy was happy no matter what

"Carla" muttered the blonde, getting the cat's attention. Naruto rubbed the young feline's head a little bit, and Carla had to stop herself from purring in pleasure, after all it was not something someone like her should do!

"I'll try to comeback in the morning. You're in charge while I'm not around, alright?" said Naruto, getting a nod from Carla. Then the young blonde went and make sure that Wendy was perfectly comfortable on the bed, before going to the door, his bag pack secured on his shoulder

"Good luck" mumbled Carla, getting a grin and a nod from Naruto. After that the young blonde left the room, leaving both Carla and Wendy alone for the night

Naruto of course didn't like this, but it was something he had to do. He would just have to do it fast enough, after all leaving Wendy alone like that, even if she had Carla, made him feel quite bad.

Naruto went to the lower floor, noticing how the bar was completely empty, with the exception of a couple of guys that were on a table. Naruto wasn't able to see their faces though, since they had cloaks that covered their whole body

The blonde went directly to the bar; in which a middle age woman was cleaning some cups. The woman had light brown hair that was cut short, brown eyes and was wearing some simples white clothes over a green apron

The woman smiled as soon as she saw Naruto coming to where she was, and the blonde returned it with a small one of his own

"Good night, Siria-san" greeted Naruto, getting a nod and a greeting from the woman. She then finished with the cup she had on her hand before looking at Naruto, her expression becoming serious

"Are you sure about this?" asked Siria, getting a nod from Naruto, who was also showing nothing but seriousness in his face

As soon as Naruto and Wendy had entered this town Naruto had managed to caught glimpses of people talking about some sort of 'fire-breathing monster' that appeared several nights before around the forest surrounding the small town

It was after finding a room in this Inn that Naruto got a confirmation about this story from the manager of the place, which was Siria herself

The whole town was becoming more paranoid every day, after all this 'monster' stole all the food it could find every time it appeared in the town. Of course the town people tried to deal with the situation by themselves, but it was impossible for them to face a monster that could spit fire, especially since there weren't any mages here

Of course the town chief, which happened to be Siria's husband, had already sent a petition of help to multiple guilds, but so far they had gotten no answers from them

It was then that Naruto intervened. He had told Siria and his husband that he would deal with the problem himself, since he was after all a mage. The only thing he asked was for a room to stay and for Wendy to be completely safe while he was gone

The town chief, whose name was Shing, had jumped at the chance of help, although Siria was more skeptics since Naruto was, in her opinion, too young to go around hunting monsters

Naruto had just told them that he was more than capable to deal with this monster, and in the end Siria had just let his husband make the deal with the young blonde.

This had happened two days ago, and it was now time for Naruto to go to the forest, find and deal with whatever beast was there

"Please don't worry so much, Siria-san. I will be back by morning. In case I'm not back by then just tell Wendy-chan that I went to do something important" said Naruto, getting a sigh and a nod from the older woman, who still didn't like so send a child to deal with a problem that was from her village

With nothing else to say Naruto just walked out of the bar, his destination was the parts of the forest in which this so called monster had been spotted.

Unknown to him though, the couple of men that were sitting at one of the tables left just a few seconds after him, their objective being simple

To hunt

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_In the forest_

The young dragon slayer of darkness and apprentice of Acnologia was now walking through the forest surrounding the town he had just left

Naruto started following a small trail in which he had been told that some people had seen the monster. This information became more trustable when Naruto found some areas that of the pace that was burned, or had burn marks around

It was a surprise that this monster hadn't started a forestall fire already, considering it's element of using

Naruto of course knew that he didn't _need_ to do this. He could have easily ignored this town's problems and just keep traveling with Wendy and Carla

But that had made him think a lot. What if he had done the same with Wendy? Just ignore his surrounding and keep traveling a lot? Naruto didn't want to even think of that, after all even if it just have been a short time since they met, travelling with Wendy had made everything more... happy, thought Naruto, not really able to put it in words

Beside's just leaving this town to fence against whatever was in this forest was something that didn't felt right for Naruto, so he decided to simply lend a helping hand

The fact that he got a free bed for Wendy was a nice bonus too

It was after walking for a while that Naruto's nose caught a strikingly familiar smell. Of course him being a dragon slayer made all his sense stronger, which was the reason he could easily see in the dark and caught a smell that was so far

Although considering what he was smelling, he was no surprised that he identified from so far

'This can't be right... Once? Sure, but twice? What kind of joke is this?' thought Naruto, surprised about the essence that he had just found. It wasn't a surprise that he felt like this about it, after all as far as he knew dragons were rare and the probabilities of finding one was rather low

Which was the reason he was so surprised when he found Wendy, after all finding a dragon slayer was maybe even weirder that finding a dragon, so what were the chances of finding one, with him being one himself, just after starting his journey?

Rather low, don't you think?

And it should be even more impossible to find _another_ dragon or dragon slayer

So why the hell was he smelling a dragon around here?

Not knowing what else to do Naruto just kept walking towards the smell, thinking about the possibilities. Was the monster related to the smell? It wasn't impossible, but as far as he knew the monster was small, not a gigantic dragon, which could only mean one thing

And his suspicion was proved right once he found the owner of smell, and what _she_ was doing.

On a small clearing there were two beings, one of them being a rather big wild boar, but Naruto's attention wasn't on the animal, rather it was on the young girl that was actually wrestling with the boar itself

Said girl had wild pink hair that reached the middle of her back, with black eyes and slightly tan skin tone. The girl was definitely young but older than Wendy, and her outfit consisted of a red shirt with a light brown cloth tighted around her waist, light brown pants, purple shoes and a white scarf around her neck.

The blonde would have done something to help the girl, however he was so surprised by the fact the she was actually winning that he just stood there, behind some bushes, a deadpanned expression on his face

The struggle between girl and beast ended when the girl gave the wild boar a good punch on its head, a punch covered by _fire_ of all things, which of course surprised the blonde mage. The punch was strong enough to knock out the boar, to which the young girl started to celebrate by yelling and punching the air, obviously happy for her 'victory'

She stopped out of nowhere though, and looked directly at the bush in which Naruto was hiding before sniffing the air a little bit. Her eyes then observed the bush suspiciously, to which Naruto knew it was his moment to present himself before the girl thought of him as his enemy

Naruto walked out of the bush, which immediately brought a reaction from the girl, who gave a step back, her back touching the boar's unmoving body. The blue-eyed mage had a kind smile on his lips, and he was about to talk to the young pink-haired girl, however she beat him to the punch by talking first, and Naruto was definitely not expecting what she was about to say

"I won't let you steal my food!" declared the young girl, her arms extended by her sides in intent to shield the passed out boar from the blonde

Naruto couldn't help but sweat drop at this. He definitely wasn't expecting that reaction out of her. Her being suspicions about him? Of course. Her asking him questions? Perfectly understandable, but that her first reaction was to protect the boar that was now her food was unexpected to say at least

"You don't need to worry about me stealing your food" the blonde tried to assure the girl, however she was still looking at him with suspicious on her eyes

Naruto was about to say something else, but he stopped when a growl escaped from the young girl's stomach

The young girl blushed in embarrassment before once again glaring at Naruto, who couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit at that. Naruto approached the girl, and before she could do anything he ruffled her hair lightly, confusing the girl a lot

"Ne, want me to help you with this?" offered Naruto while pointing at the still unconscious boar. The girl looked up at him and blinked twice before sniffing him once again, and by the ways she smiled at him just a second later it was easy enough to assume that, just like with Wendy, she had been able to detect the smell of a dragon on him

"Yeah!"

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Hours later_

The blonde mage known as Naruto was now resting against a tree on a clearing, the remains of the boar that had became his dinner lying around, although they were nothing but bones

Just besides him there was another person who was actually sleeping. It was the young girl that he had met, whose name he had found out was Natsumi. The young girl had eaten most of the meat and had felt asleep right afterwards, forcing Naruto to become the watcher for the night, after all who knows what kind of other animals lived here

The sun was barely starting to go out, and Naruto had a lot of time to think about his current situation. First he had found another dragon slayer, one Wendy Marvel, which was already a weird occurrence, considering how rare dragons, and of course dragon slayers, were already.

He could accept it though, and simply strike it as a lucky guess, but to find _another_ dragon slayer in less than a month? Now that was way too much of a coincidence to be just that, a coincidence.

First he had thought that his teacher, Acnologia, had left him in that forest in which he had found Wendy on purpose just so that he could find the girl, and later find Natsumi, however that didn't make any sense, after all why would Acnologia care about other dragon slayers like that?

Not having any other theory he had to settle himself with the conclusion that it had been just a lucky shot, even though it was too unlikely to happen.

The blonde's gaze then went to his sleeping new friend, one Natsumi Dragneel. The two of them had immediately bonded when they confirmed that they had both been raised by dragons, and for all night the young girl had told him about stories of her time with the mighty fire dragon known as Igneel

During the night the blonde couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of both Natsumi and Wendy, after all from the stories both girls had told him about their relationship with their adoptive parents it looked like he was the only one that had a crappy relationship with his dragon teacher, however he had quickly buried those feelings, knowing that they would do no good for him

Just like when Wendy had asked Naruto had told Natsumi an edited version of his life alongside Acnologia, not wanting to trouble the young girl with his past problems

It was after talking for a while that the young girl had actually challenged Naruto to a fight, surprising once again the blonde. Not knowing how to respond to that he had told her that it was too late for that, and that they could spare a little bit after she rested, to which she agreed a little begrudgingly

Which of course brought to the current situation, which was Naruto looking at the sunrise while Natsumi slept by his side. The blonde wondered if he would be able to go back in time before Wendy woke up, and if he did then what was going to be his excuse? Sure, he had apparently found the 'monster'; however Natsumi was no monster, just a little girl that found herself having to steal food because her parent had abandoned her just like with Wendy

It didn't mean that Naruto agreed to what she had done, but she could understand it, besides just by the little time they had spent talking he could easily tell that Natsumi was way too innocent and ignorant about a lot of stuff, and she probably didn't even know that what she had done was bad in the first place

Naruto could still not understand why the dragons had to disappear like that. At least Acnologia had the decency of telling him beforehand, but both Igneel and Grandeeney had apparently just left without a warning, leaving two young girls to fend themselves alone, something that didn't set well with the blonde

The blue-eyed mage would have continued to think about this, however he was taken out of his thoughts by some grumbling and movement from his right, which were caused by Natsumi, who was now waking up

"Did you sleep well?" asked Naruto to the young girl who was rubbing her eyes with her hands in an attempt to shake the sleepiness out of her. The girl stopped doing that and then looked at Naruto whit her eyes half-opened. She blinked a few times just before her eyes opened wide and she launched herself at the blonde and hugging him tightly, getting him off guard

"Naruto-nii, you're still here!" exclaimed the young girl happily, a big smile on her face. Naruto was caught off guard not only by her actions but also by what she had just said, but that surprise disappeared in a second and was replaced by a sad smile

"Of course I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, alright?" said the blonde, getting a nod from the girl who was still grinning at him happily

He could easily figure out that she was still affected by her dragon father leaving, after all the first few days after he had found Wendy she had acted the same, thinking that he was going to disappear any time soon and leave her alone just like Grandeeney

The blonde stood up and dusted his clothes, Natsumi following his lead. He still hadn't thought of a plan about how to deal with the little situation back at the town; however he wanted to go back immediately, not liking the fact that Wendy and Carla were all alone by themselves

"Ne, Natsumi-chan" called the elder dragon slayer, getting the girl's attention "Would you like met another dragon slayer like us?"

His question got a surprised look on Natsumi's face just before she grinned excitedly at him

"Really?!" asked the exited girl

"Yeah" confirmed the blonde with a smile "Her name is Wendy, and she's a little bit younger than you. I'm sure that both of you will be-" The blonde stopped talking out of nowhere, and it a fast move he picked up Natsumi, who released a yelp at that, and moved swiftly to the other side of the clearing just before a number of needles landed in the spot in which him and Natsumi were standing just a second ago

"Show yourself!" ordered the blonde while putting down Natsumi just behind him, the young girl still being confused about what had just happened. Naruto wasn't actually expecting them to appear, so he was more than ready for another surprise attack like that, but contrary to his believes the people that had just attacked him and Natsumi actually appeared on the opposite side of the clearing, their form clearly visible with the amount of natural light that currently basked their location

Two individuals appeared, each one sporting similar looks but at the same time with multiple different. The one on the right had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wears a breather that covers the lower half of his face and a large, clawed gauntlet on his right arm. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-colored, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. He also had a forehead protector that had a single horn in it

Meanwhile the one on the left also had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He also had a breather on his face and a large clawed gauntlet, although his was his left arm. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-colored, knee-length sandals and several pouches around his waist, and another forehead protector like his partner, only that his had two horns coming out from its sides

Naruto eyed both individuals with a cold expression, analyzing them in case a fight broke out. It was plainly obvious for him that those gauntlets of them were their main weapons, and based by their looks he guessed that they also relied somewhat on teamwork

"Well it looks like our preys aren't as weak as we thought, Gozu" said the one with one horn to his partner, whose name was Gozu

"I guess is the least we can expect from someone that was trained by a dragon of all things, Meizu" shot back Gozu to his partner, also revealing his name

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment in shock, surprised by the fact that this people knew that he and Natsumi were dragon slayers

"Who are you?" asked the blonde with a cold voice, using his body to shield his younger partner from both Gozu and Meizu

"We? We are simply mercenaries, gaki, and you and that little girl there will be our ticket to fortune!" the one on the right, Gozu, declared, pointing at Naruto and Natsumi with his gauntlet

"Some people would pay extremely well for someone like you two, who hold such a rare type of magic" continued Meizu "Honestly we just thought that a trip to a place like this would be a waste of time, but after hearing your little conversation last night... it looks like we won the lottery"

From behind the blonde Natsumi was openly glaring at them, and it was only because Naruto had such a strong hold on her that she wasn't able to give both mercenaries a piece of her mind

Meanwhile the blonde was cursing himself mentally for not being able to detect the presence of this two, who had apparently followed him yesterday. He had lowered his guard, and was so focused on finding Natsumi that he had ended up making such a mistake

"Well then kid, how will it be?" said Meizu, his eyes set firmly on the blonde "You can either come willingly, alongside the girl, or do we have to rough you up a little bit" to make his point across his moved the fingers of his gauntlet

The blonde just gave them a cold look before he addressed Natsumi, his eyes still glued to the form of the mercenaries

"Natsumi-chan" the young girl stopped glaring at them and looked up at her blonde friend with a confused expression "Go hide behind the trees, I'll handle this"

"Naruto-nii!" it was obvious by her expression that Natsumi didn't like the idea of just hiding and not doing anything, after all she wasn't weak! She could fight too, and she wanted to help him, and she was just about to say those things to the older dragon slayer, but a hand on the top of her head stopped her, courtesy of Naruto

"Natsumi-chan, I know you want to help, but I have to do this alone" Naruto's tone left no place for argument, but Natsumi still hold her ground and stubbornly looked up at Naruto with a glare. Then after a few seconds she ended up just nodding and moving to the trees that were behind her, however she was still more than ready to go and help her fellow dragon slayer if needed

Naruto's focus was on Natsumi the whole time, and the impatient Gozu decided to take advantage of his opponents apparent lack of attention. He quickly dashed at him, his gauntlet ready to impact with the blonde's face

But just before he managed to land his attack Naruto moved his head back slightly, making the gauntlet to miss him for just a few inches. Then faster that Gozu could react Naruto's fist impacted with his stomach with enough force that the mercenary was sent flying to the other side of the clearing past his brother with no air on his lungs

"Gozu!" cried Meizu at seeing his brother handled so easily, and that moment in which his attention was on his brother proved to be a mistake, since Naruto appeared in front him just before giving him a punch straight to his face, also sending him flying towards were his brother was

From the trees Natsumi was left in awe by Naruto's show of speed. She wasn't even able to follow him! It was like he had teleported from one place to another in the young pink-haired girl's eyes

Naruto for his part showed no emotions on his face, while his mind has only one thought. What if they had discovered Wendy? He had made a mistake and for that these two were now attacking him, but what if they had discovered sooner that Wendy was also a dragon slayer? Would they have attacked her while he was here searching for Natsumi?

Just that possibility sent a wave of fury to the blonde. He had promised himself that he would protect Wendy, and now he would also protect Natsumi with his life, which of course meant dealing with these scum, something that he had no problem doing

Showing that they were not just bark with no bite both Gozu and Meizu managed to stand up again, this time both glaring murderously at Naruto, who was still looking at them both with a cold stare

Then showing their work as a team both mercenaries moved in synch to opposite sides of the blonde, with Meizu at his right and Gozu at his left. Then both mercenaries moved upon him, once again with their gauntlets aimed at Naruto's body

The blonde stood still, and Natsumi was about to yell for him to move, but just when their attacks were about to hot Naruto he moved quickly, managing to grab both gauntlets before they reached him with his bare hands and stopping them from moving, with one close to his torso while the other one close to his face, of course shocking both Gozu and Meizu

Then Naruto _threw_ both brothers by their gauntlets, and as soon as Gozu landed Naruto was once again upon him with a kick aimed to his face, only that this time his leg was completely covered by a dark energy

"_**Yaryu no Kagizume (Darkness Dragon's Claw)**_!" Naruto's attack landed perfectly, sending his opponent flying, completely unconscious. However he had no time to celebrate since he had to quickly turn around, his right hand covered in the same dark energy

"_**Yaryu no Saiga (Darkness Dragon's Crushing Fang)**_!" Naruto swept his hand in front of him in an arc like fashion, blocking the numerous needles like projectiles that had been sent to him by none other than Meizu

Then just like with his brother Naruto dashed towards his enemy, his other hand covered with darkness, just before landing a hard punch directly to Meizu's face, actually breaking his mask and nose too with a crunch, and just like his brother Meizu felt unconscious after just one attack

It was like that how Acnologia had trained him. Acnologias's fighting style, and therefore Naruto's was one that focused on destroying the enemy, nothing more and nothing else. It was a cruel way of fighting, perfectly reflecting how Acnologia was towards his enemy, and while Naruto had no problems with controlling his strength, he didn't felt like doing it when it came to people like this two

Even with his opponent defeated Naruto kept the same mask of coldness that he had been keeping during the whole fight. Rage was still on his mind, and thoughts of making these two pay were starting to make themselves present of Naruto's mind, even though the two mercenaries weren't really able to do anything against him. However he was shaken out of that state of mind by a loud voice coming from his side

"Sugoi! Naruto-nii that was awesome!" An exited Natsumi yelled, quickly coming to his side, her expression holding nothing but awe by Naruto's strength

The blonde looked down at the girl, finally breaking the cold mask he was wearing. He released a sigh, and chuckled, amused by how quick the little girl was talking to him, from asking him to train her to challenging him to a fight all in the same sentence. The blonde ended up putting a hand on the top of her head and rubbing her pink hair, stopping the girl's rambling and making her look up at him with a confused expression

"How about we go get Wendy first and eat a little bit? How does that sound?" asked the blonde with a smile, predicting Natumi's answer, and just like he expected the girl grinned at him, her thoughts of fighting him pushed aside by the combination of meeting another dragon slayer and food

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_A week later_

True to his words Naruto had done what he could to fix the issue that Natsumi had created. The first thing he did was explain the situation to both Siria and his husband, who was the town chief. After that they had gotten to an agreement that Naruto would work in order to pay for the damages that Natsumi had done, something that the blonde agreed

He of course had gone and explained why what she had done was wrong, and even though it was a little hard to make the young girl understand, in the end he was able to do just that, also making her promise to not steal something ever again

Luckily for him both Wendy and Natsumi had hit it off quite quickly, with Natsumi always dragging little Wendy to play while Naruto worked and Carla watching over both of them. However something made itself obvious to Naruto after a few days of watching Natsumi interact with Wendy

Her father had taught him little when it came to other things that weren't magic

The same could be said about Wendy, but Naruto couldn't really blame either the girl of her mother, Grandeeney, after all Wendy was still quite young, and expecting someone as young as Wendy to have a complete education was simply asking too much

Natsumi on the other hand barely knew how to read, let alone write. In the end it became obvious for Naruto that he would have to teach both girls about that kind of stuff, and for once he was actually grateful of Acnologia, after all if the dragon hadn't sent him to villages in order to learn the he might be as bad as Natsumi was

Wendy accepted the teaching gladly, of course wanting to learn more from her elder brother figure, while Natsumi tried her best to refuse, but when Naruto told her that he wouldn't teach her any 'cool techniques' if she didn't try hard alongside with Wendy she quickly complied, albeit with some grumbling

The situation with the mercenaries Gozu and Meizu was fixed once a mage from the guild called Lamia Scale finally appeared on the small town, apparently with the intentions of helping with the issue that Naruto had already fixed. However he had been told about Meizu and Gozu from Naruto, and once the mage had been showed where the two unconscious men were being held captive he was quick to say that he would bring both of them with him since apparently this two men had made more than one illegal deal in their years of work

And now after a week on none stop work from Naruto; with some help from Natsumi whenever she could, the trio of dragon slayers and a cat were more than ready to continue their journey, with Natsumi being focused in trying to find Igneel. Naruto didn't have the heart to tell the girl that the possibilities of finding the fire dragon were next to none, and ended up just telling her that he would help her as much as she could, to which Natsumi couldn't have felt more grateful

Now they were walking a road that connected the small town they had just left with their next destination, which was none other than Clover Town. There they would take train to go directly towards Magnolia, in which the guild that Naruto was so curious about resided

He had gotten information about this guild before, and the mage from Lamia Scale was nice enough to tell him even more about it when he asked him. Apparently it was considered the strongest guild, and it was famous for their destructive exploits

"Ne, Naruto-nii" Natsumi called the blonde, getting his attention "Where are we going anyway?"

"We're going to join a guild!" answered the blonde excitedly, getting confused stares from Wendy, Natsumi and Carla, who had no clue about what a guild was

"A guild?" wondered Wendy, getting a nod from Naruto

"Yep. Is a place in which mages get together to take missions and earn money" Naruto explained it as simple as he could, getting nods from all three of the females of the group

"And what is this guild called anyway?" this time it was Carla who asked, guessing that Naruto already had a guild in mind, which was of course true

The blonde stopped walking, Wendy and Natsumi following his lead while Carla was still perched at the top of his head. He grinned excitedly at the two girls; after all he himself was rather exited about reaching this guild. Then he finally told them the name of not only the guild they were going to, but also of the place that would held their most important memories

"Fairy Tail!"

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Meanwhile, in the island of Tenroujima_

"Naruto… Natsumi… for the two of you to have met so soon… is this one of fate's sick jokes?" certain dark mage wondered, his body lying lazily on the grass that covered the island, with his arms behind his head and his eyes looking up to the blue sky

Then the dark mage known as Zeref stood up, his eyes had a lost expression, his mind going over things that happened a long time ago. He always did this, think of the past, wondering if making some sort of different decision would have changed anything. Maybe Minato and Kushina could have been saved? Maybe he wouldn't have had to use Minato's spell to travel through time? A lot of scenarios always played in the dark mage's head, but sadly each one of them always ended the same

With _them _winning

He knew that _they_ were still around, there was no doubt on his mind about that, after all just like him they had the curse of immortality running through their bodies

"Such a cursed bloodline…" Zeref murmured out loud, his legs moving him almost lazily towards the deeper part of the island. It was now time for him to act too. He knew that sooner or later Naruto would be forced to face _them_, there was no other way, after all their _obsession_ with him was one of the most dangerous things that Zeref had even seen, but there was no way he would ever let Naruto face them alone, or become one of _them_

He would gladly die first than allowing that to happen

Ho owed that much not only to Naruto, but to Minato and Kushina too

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**Yes I know, this chapter came quite late and I'm sorry for that. I will try to get the next chapter sooner, but do remember that my focus is on my other story**

**Not much going for this chapter, just some setting for the future. I also know it's quite short, but there wasn't much that I wanted to put in this one. Next one will definitely be longer, and while I could go on with more chapters before reaching certain guild, for the sake of the plot we'll reach that place in next chapter**

**Thank to you all that read, reviewed, favorite and followed this fic. The amount of response to the first few chapters was incredible, so truly thank you all!**

**Next Chapter: Fairy Tail!**


	5. Fairy Tail

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 4**

**Fairy Tail**

The sun shined brightly on the railroad that connected multiple towns in the country of Fiore, the train being the most common used means of transport by both civilians and mages alike, specially the former because of their job

Like always at this time of the day, the train traveled at its normal speed, its destiny being none other than the town of Magnolia, home of a very particular guild

The train had of course multiple cabins for the people that traveled there, said cabins being big enough to hold to four adults at the same time, which meant that they had no problem holding a teenager, two kids and one talking cat

In one of those cabins there were a group of people that would definitely make an interesting sight for everyone that were to enter this specific cabin.

One of them was a young girl, no older than five, with short dark blue hair and brown eyes. This girl's name was Wendy Marvell

Another one was another young girl, although she was definitely older than Wendy. This girl had wild pink hair that reached the middle of her back and black eyes. This girl was Natsumi Dragneel

The third individual of the group wasn't actually human, but rather a white cat with pink ears and brown eyes, and she was right now sitting on Wendy's lap. This cat's name was Carla

And last but definitely not least was the older member and only male from the group. This youngster had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was Naruto Uzumaki

Now normally this group would not get the attention of many people by their appearance only, however if said people were to know that three of them were able to use such a lost art known as _**Metsuryū Mahō (Dragon Slayer Magic)**_, then this group would definitely get unwanted attention

However right now it wasn't because of their magic that they were quite a peculiar sight. No, it was because of the actions of one of their members, none other than Naruto himself

"Guuuh!" The blonde made a small whinnying sound, his whole form slouched over the seat that he was occupying, his hands over his stomach, his face showing an expression of pain and also being a lot more paler than normal

"What do we do?! What do we do?! What do we do?!" Natsumi asked Wendy with no little amount of panic, not knowing what was going on with her older brother figure or how to help him

"I-I don't know!" just like with Natsumi, Wendy was also showing nothing but panic on her face, both her eyes and Natsumi's looking over the downed blonde with worrying gazes

"Honestly! He will be fine as soon as the train stops, so stop worrying so much about him!" Carla exclaimed, doing her best to act calm in this weird situation, however the way that she was stealing glances at Naruto from her seat was telling everyone that she was also worried about the dragon slayer

"D-don't worry... I-I'm fine" Naruto did his best to smile reassuringly at both girls who had left their seats and were now fussing over him "See? It's nothing worth to worry about!" the last part was said after the blonde managed to sit up normally, his face still a little pale but otherwise not showing any other source of discomfort

Both girls released relieved sighs, thinking that Naruto was now better...

However not a second sooner Naruto's face went a sickly shade of green, and he had to do his best to keep his lunch in his stomach, his form once again slouching over the seat and his lips releasing weird sounds

"Onii-chan!"

"Naruto-nii!"

"For Kami's sake!"

This had been the situation that graced this cabin every since the group of four started traveling by train.

No one knew what was happening with Naruto, not even the blonde himself. He had never experienced something like this, heck he had never even got sick since he could remember! However as soon as the train started moving it felt like everything that was on his stomach wanted to be released one way or another

Motion sickness had been the only theory that had appeared in Naruto's mind, however he didn't even knew that he had that of all things. Sure he had never used a transport like this, but still to get sick like this as soon as the train started moving was way too much. It almost felt unnatural

He would have thought more about it, but right now his whole focus was to keep his launch on his stomach. Not only because he didn't want to throw up, but also because he hadn't ate all of that ramen just to puke it a few hours later!

"M-maybe if I do this..." Wendy muttered, remembering one of the spells that her mother, Grandeeney, had taught her. She had never used this spell, in fact she had hardly used magic at all, and she didn't even know if it would work, but at least she had to try! After all her Onii-chan looked like he was in real pain, and there was something wrong about seeing the normal, confident and easy-going blonde in such a state

She didn't like it

"_**Toroia (Troia)**_!" Wendy said, her hand's being covered by a bluish light. Then she proceeded to touch Naruto's face, the blue light extending to his face. She did this for a about ten seconds, and then out of a sudden Naruto stopped grimacing in pain, his face recovering his normal color.

He sat up quickly, blinking a few times at how... _normal_ he was now feeling. He blinked a few times more, his right hand passing through his hair just before giving Wendy a big smile

"Incredible! It's like my sickness is gone! Thank you, Wendy-chan!" Naruto earnestly thanked the young girl, getting an embarrassing blush from her at being complimented so honestly

"You cured Naruto-nii, Wendy! You're great!" Natusmi was also quick to praise the younger girl, making her even more embarrassed than before

"N-no, I m-mean, It wasn't that much, I just..." the shy girl started mumbling under her breath, her head lowered and her face red by being the center of so many praises

"Wendy! If you're being praised by your skills then you need to keep your head high in pride!" Carla lightly reprimanded the young girl, her form once again resting on Naruto's head since he was now better

The girl heard and tried to follow the words of her feline friend, however as soon as her eyes met the grateful look that Naruto was giving to her she was quick to look elsewhere, her face once again being a healthy tone of red

"This girl" Naruto heard Carla muttering and he couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. He was already used to Wendy's shyness and Carla doing her best to help the young girl with that, but sometimes it was truly a funny view

Then the cabin descended into a comfortable silence, only broke when either Wendy or Natsumi made a comment about the things they were able to see through the window that the this place had

Just like how Naruto had wanted as soon as they had reached Clover Town they had gone directly to the train station, however since they had arrived too late they had missed the last train, forcing them to stay at the little town for a day

Not that it was bad of anything. They had simply found a small inn to stay in for the night, and then at the next day, after touring a little bit and eating they had finally started their journey towards Magnolia aboard the train, which of course brought the group to their current situation

Then Naruto's mind when to his fellow dragon slayer, or to be more precise their current set of skills. Just like how Wendy had just showed the young girl's _**Ten no Metsuryū Mahō (Sky Dragon Slayer Magic)**_ had healing type of techniques, something that definitely made it stand out from his or Natsumi's magic, which were mostly offensive. However it also looked like her dragon mother had focused in those kinds of skills, since Wendy barely knew any type of offensive magic

Natsumi was the complete opposite. The pink-haired girl knew only offensive type of techniques, and not only that but her control was also almost none existent, to the point that even with the simples of all attacks she would use as much magic as she could, something that Naruto knew was a big mistake

They both were young though, so there was definitely time for them to improve, and he already knew that it would be him the one helping them developing their dragon slayer magic. Sure he could chose not to do it and let their instincts do the trick, but that just felt wrong. He had already vowed to take care of them, so of course he was also going to teach him how to improve their magic abilities as much as he could

Finally after a few hours of travelling the train came to a sudden stop, prompting the group of four to leave their cabin and move towards the exit of the train

As soon as they left both the train and the train station, which was filled to the brim with people travelling somewhere, they got their first view to Magnolia Town, getting some awed looks from the two younger girls

"Wow" both Wendy and Natsumi had never seen such a big city, after all their had mostly lived in the wilderness with their respective parents, and even when travelling with Naruto they had never been in a place like this, Clown Town being quite the small town compared to this

Naruto for his part couldn't help but to smile at the girl's first impression of the city. It was definitely good that they seemed to like it, after this place was probably going to become their home soon, so the fact that they liked it was definitely a good start

"Why don't we look over this place a little bit before going to the guild?" asked Naruto, already knowing the answer, which were an exited nod from Natsumi, a more calmed one from Wendy and a huff from Carla

Then true to his words they started exploring the incredible city of Magnolia, which was of course filled with people, stores and other different buildings

All four of them were definitely curious about what the city had to offer, from its stores to just how beautiful some of the things they were able to see were. Wendy for her part definitely loved the multiple flowers that covered many of the places, while Natsumi was just happy at seeing everything like a kid on a sugar high

There were people going on the streets for their own business, while the multiple stores that they saw on their way were definitely open, from food markets to magic shops. The city just gave a vibe of lifeness, something that according to what Naruto knew fitted perfectly with the guild that had this place as home

However in such a lively city accident were prom to happen, especially with how Natsumi was running everywhere without paying attention to stuff. Naruto saw not only this, but also how what looked like another young girl, around Natsumi's age, was running directly to their direction, or to be more precise towards Natsumi

"Natsumi-chan, look out!" Naruto's warning came to late though, since as soon as he said that Natsumi ended up bumping with the girl that was at the front of the group, making both of them to fall butt first to their ground

"Ouch" Natsumi whined, rubbing her head before giving the girl that had knocked her down a glare "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"What?!" the girl in front of her asked, also rubbing her head "It was you who crashed on me! You should apologize!"

Natsumi looked at her indignantly; as if the sole thought of apologizing was impossible for her "The one that needs to apologize here is you! You're the one that rammed into me!"

"No, it was you!"

"Nu-uh, you were!"

By the point that Naruto, Wendy and Carla finally reached Natsumi she was now butting heads with the other girl, both glaring at each other like they were long-lost enemies

Naruto just released a sigh. He knew that Natsumi could be a little… difficult at times, but she was still a good girl, and for her to suddenly try to pick a fight with a completely stranger like that was not what she usually did

He grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her off from her stand-off against the other girl, getting a surprised yelp from the pink-haired girl

"Natsumi-chan" the blonde's voice was calm but stern, his blue eyes looking straight at Natsumi's black ones "I already told you, you can't go around making trouble like that"

"But it's her fault!" Natsumi whined while pointing a finger at the other girl, whose eyebrow was twitching in annoyance at the expresion

However the blonde would have none of that, and his eyes clearly told the girl that she wasn't getting away from it. As a last resort Natsumi tried to get support from Wendy, however she got none of that since said girl was hiding behind Naruto's legs, her attention elsewhere

In the end the pink-haired dragon slayer ended up pouting and looking down. She didn't like it when her Naruto-nii scolded her. Sure she knew that he wasn't really mad at her, but she still didn't like her when he gave her that look

For his part Naruto just released another sigh before ruffling Natsumi's hair kindly, getting said girl to look up at him. He was about to tell her to apologize to the other girl but the loud sound of conversation stopped him, said sound being the same thing that had Wendy's and Carla's attention

"Finally got you!" shouted another girl that appeared just behind the one that had smashed against Natsumi just a few minutes before, and Naruto could swore that said girl's face became white as a sheet of paper

"You two shouldn't run like that t the middle of the city, you might hurt someone!" then another girl appeared, this one with a more stern appearance, and started scolding the two other girls, with one being obviously nervous while the second one was acting like she couldn't care less

It was now that Naruto got a good view at the three girls. The one that had smashed against Natsumi earlier had spiky short black hair, dark blue eyes and fair skin. She was wearing a simple dark blue shirt and blue shorts with black shoes. She looked to be at the same age that Natsumi

The next two girls looked a little bit older, but not so much, with the one that had appeared first having white hair that was put into a ponytail, fair skin and blue eyes, however what got the most attention from Naruto was her clothes. She was wearing what could best be described as a gothic-looking, overly revealing outfit. She donned a dark, skimpy sleeveless shirt adorned with some light curved motifs on the chest, a pair of leather shorts held up by a studded belt with a demonic-looking buckle and thigh-high boots with stiletto heels, each bearing a skull adorned by a flower on their upper front parts. She also sported a bracelet shaped like a demonic arm around her right wrist, a ring on the same hand's middle finger, and dark nail polish

The third and final girl was also wearing something quite interesting for someone so young. This girl had scarlet red hair that was also on a ponytail, and brown eyes. Her attire consisted of what looked like an armor that covered her torso and part of her arms, with a white long-sleeved shirt under it, and a long white skirt that reached pass her knees. She was also wearing brown shoes and had a sword strapped to a brown belt that was around her waist

Right now it looked like the red-headed girl was doing her best to scold the other two girls while the white-haired one looked at her with annoyance. Meanwhile the younger girl was doing her best to leave, but the grip that the white-haired girl had on her arm was apparently too strong since she was unable to move

"Oi, Naruto" from the top of his head Carla got the blonde's attention with a whisper "Maybe they know something about this guild that you want to join" the white cat mentioned, getting an understanding look from the dragon slayer

Sure, they knew that the guild was here, but the exact location of it was still a mystery, and asking for information was definitely better than just going around aimlessly, although the blonde had his doubt about this group of girls knowing where said guild was, but it wasn't like asking would do any harm anyway

"Umm, excuse me" Naruto called, getting the attention of all three girls. Then before he could ask even more the red-headed girl moved in front of her group and bowed to Naruto's group, surprising everyone

"I apologize for my companion's rudeness" said the girl in a firm tone, and Naruto was about to tell her that there was no problem, but he was once again stopped by someone else from her group

"Don't go around apologizing for me like that, Erza!" yelled the white-haired girl to the girl whose name he guessed was Erza, getting a glare from said girl

"Shut up, Mirajane!" Erza hissed, glaring daggers at the white-haired girl "This is your fault in the first place so of course someone should apologize!"

"My fault?!" the girl, Mirajane, asked indignantly while crossing her arms over her chest, finally releasing the younger girl from her powerful grip

"Yes! If you hadn't gone around chasing Grace like that then nothing would have happened!" once again Naruto really wanted to affirm that everything was alright, but the girl's discussion didn't let him a single moment for that

"Stop complaining so much, Erza! One would think that a puppy died or something!" the other girl, Mirajane, was quick to answer, her eyes glaring at Erza "Besides she started by attacking me with that stupid magic of hers, and she did that because of _you_!" at this she pointer at the red-headed girl with her finger "So it's your fault, not mine!"

Naruto truly didn't know how to act now. He really wanted to ask this girls about the guild, especially now that he heard the word 'magic' coming from one of them, but they were now crashing their foreheads against each other, completely ignoring his group, which had a Wendy that was clutching at his leg with a strong grip from someone of her age, a Carla that was muttering about annoying teenage girls, and a Natsumi that looked exited for some reason

Although another thing that definitely got his attention was the fact that no one was paying attention to the situation, almost like it was something that happened every day

Naruto's eyes then landed on the thirds member of this all girl group, the one that based on the early discussion he could guess was named Grace. Said girl was now on the sides, looking at both her companions with a mix of interest and fear. Not knowing what else to do, and thinking that trying to get the other girl's attentions was already a lost case he decided to approach her

"Excuse me" Naruto repeated his question to the black-haired girl, getting her attention. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering what the older boy wanted

"First of all, sorry for my friend's attitude" the blonde said, signaling for Natsumi to apologize to the other girl. She actually did it, although definitely not liking it, getting a smirk from the other girl, which just infuriated Natsumi even more

"Now that that's settled" continued the blonde, a small smile on his face "Do you know about a guild called Fairy Tail? I heard it was in this town, but we don't really know where it is" at this he scratched the back of his head, easily noticing how the girl's eyes widened for a moment when he said the guilds name

Another thing that happened was that the two girls fighting stopped as soon as he said the guilds name, and were now watching him, one with interest and the other one with suspicion

"And what would you want with Fairy Tail anyway?" asked the white-haired girl, her eyes narrowed at Naruto's group

"Well, we would like to join" he answered, getting surprised looks from all three girls

"You're all mages?" this time the question went from Erza, noticing how one of the members of his group was a girl a lot younger than her and another looked like a cat

"Yeah, all four of us!" it was Natsumi who answered this time, energetic as ever

"Four?" the black-haired girl, Grace, asked, not knowing where the four person was

"Of course four! Can't you see?" from Naruto's head Carla answered, getting shocked expression from all three girls

"That cat talked… right? I'm not going crazy, right?" Mirajane's question was directed at Erza, their little struggle apparently forgotten

"It definitely talked…" Erza mumbled, not knowing how to react to this. They knew magic could do incredible things, but a talking cat? That was a first

"Master is going to love this…" Grace mumbled just before Erza started to talk to them, telling them to follow them and that they, as mages from said guild, would take them there, after all is was their Master's job to accept people on their guild, not theirs

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Half an hour later_

The group of seven, which was formed by Naruto, Wendy, Natsumi, Carla and the three girls they had met before and, which names were Erza Scarlet, Grace Fullbuster and Mirajane Strauss, were now standing just in front of the doors of the guild that had the title of the 'strongest one': Fairy Tail

Erza had been kind enough of not only telling them were the guild was, but had also offered to guide them there since not only her but also the other two girls were part of said guild, something that had definitely surprised Naruto

Of course in their walk Erza had also pointed out many places of interest, like stores and tourist points, which had ended up prolonging the excursion, but now half an hour later they were now standing in front of the guild, and Naruto could tell that for some reason Erza was now acting nervously

She was standing in front of the door, leading the group, and now she was supposed to open said door, but instead of that she was now mumbling under her breath some stuff about stupid guild mates and first impressions, which confused Naruto

Erza couldn't help it though, after all she knew how her guild was, so she was more than sure that as soon as she opened that door their knew guest would be presented with was looked like a bar fight, which was definitely not a good first impression

Mirajane was quick to notice Erza's worried expression, however unlike her fellow guild mate she didn't care at all about things like that, so quickly pushing Erza aside she opened the door to the guild with a kick, leaving the door wide open and allowing Naruto, Natsumi, Wendy and Carla too see quite a sight

Just like Erza had feared the guild was in an uproar, with things flying around everywhere, loud yelling and of course the members of the guild all being in what looked like a wild brawl just at the middle of the hall

The new comers, namely Naruto, Natsumi, Wendy and Carla, didn't know how to react to this situation at all, and ended up looking at the struggle with surprised expression that changed after a few seconds

Wendy hide herself behind Naruto, a little scared about the guild

Carla was openly glaring at the sight, thinking of how ridiculous and stupid some humans could be

Natsumi had a grin on her face, and the only thing that stopped her from entering what she thought was a fun game was Naruto's hold on her shoulder

Last but not least was Naruto, who unconsciously grabbed Natsumi even harder and shielded Wendy from the sight with his body. Sure he had heard that this guild could be quite… unique, but he didn't know that things could go like this

'Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea' thought the blonde, observing what looked like a bar fight while chuckling uncomfortably while also checking the other girl's reaction to this

Mirajane just released a sigh and shock her head, muttering about dumb guild mates

Erza had her palm on her face and was also shaking her head

Lastly Grace was looking at the struggle with a neutral expression, almost as if it was something normal

"What the hell do you all think you're doing?!" after recovering Erza left out a commanding roar, and Naruto was actually surprised once he saw that the people fighting actually stopped once Erza entered the guild, almost as if they feared her

Which, for Naruto's group, would not be that surprising, after all that was one hell of a roar

"E-E-Erza!" one of the guys at the crowd _whimpered_, and he was definitely not the only one trembling under the red-head's mighty glare

"Oh c'mon Scarlet! Just because you don't know how to have fun doesn't mean that you have to ruin everyone else's!" Mirajane was quick to throw a jab at her rival, making her the only victim of Erza's glare, although it wasn't really affecting her anyway

"There are plenty of ways to have fun besides fighting like that, especially when we have guests!"

Once again it looked like both girls were about to have a go at each other, and Naruto had to wonder just exactly how often that happened. By his side Grace released a sigh before looking up again and talking, of course getting his attention

"If you guys want to join you'll have to talk with Master" informed the girl, getting a nod from Naruto who smiled at her in gratitude before voicing his own question

"And where can I find him exactly?" he asked, and it looked like the black-haired girl was going to answer but she was stopped once a _gigantic_ figure appeared from the second floor of the building, his eyes shining and his whole body easily towering over everyone here

"**What's the matter here?! Are you people trying to destroy the guild again?! I'll swear I'll take the money of the repairs from all you personally if you keep doing it!"** said the gigantic figure in a deep voice, easily dispersing the crowd that had been formed right at the middle of the hall

Then his attention went to both Erza and Mirajane, who were now trying to act as innocent as possible, after all they were about to start another fight, even though in their minds it was the other girl's fault, not theirs

"**And what is this that I hear about guests?**" the figure asked to both girls, which made Erza react after remembering who she had brought in the first place

"Yes Master, this people here wanted to join the guild!" said Erza before pointing to where Naruto and his group was, who were all looking at the tall figure with a mixture of shock, curiosity and a little bit of fear

Wendy was even trembling at the sight alongside Carla, although the later was doing her best to pretend that she wasn't affected. Naruto feeling this put a hand on top of the girl's head and gave her a small smile, calming the girl a little bit

This also got the attention of every guild member present, whose attention also went to the newcomers

"**I see…**" once again the man that Naruto could now guess was the Master of Fairy Tail said, and he had to admit that he was definitely an imposing sight, something that wasn't so surprising for the blonde, after all he had already guessed that if someone wanted to be the Master of a guild that someone had to at least be strong, and this guy definitely looked strong…

Or so he thought, until with a puff of smoke the gigantic man disappeared, in his place leaving no one but a rather short old man with white hair, black eyes, a thick mustache and a weird orange hat that matched the rest of his clothes

"In that case why don't you tell me your names first?" said the short old man in happy and calmed voice that was a lot different from the one that he had before. He was of course expecting an answer but the only thing he got were strange looks from Naruto and his group

For a few minutes they did nothing but stare at each other, the old man waiting for some sort of response while Naruto's group just kept their lost expression until the old man coughed a little bit to get their attention

"What? O yeah right" the first one to get out of his shocked state was Naruto, who scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, his mind going to the conclusion that what they had just watched was this guy, who was apparently the Master of this guild, style of magic

The blonde proceeded to introduce himself and every member of his group, Wendy giving the old man little bow, Natsumi waving happily at him, and Carla just mumbling something too low for everyone to hear

However the fact that she had just talked was not missed by anyone, even if her words where lost

"That cat just talked, right? I'm not going senile, right?" the short man asked to the person to his right, namely Erza who just nodded at his question

That reaction just got an annoyed huff from Carla who was tired of humans reacting that way when they hear her talk while Wendy actually giggled a little bit, Naruto chuckled and Natsumi just watched confused, not understanding why it was so weird for Carla to talk

Then the man, whose name was Makarov, introduced himself and confirmed the thought that he was the current Master of the guild. He then told the group to follow him, which they did alongside Erza and Grace who were curious about the new comers while Mirajane just went off saying that she had better stuff to do

The rest of the people that were in the hall went back to what they were doing, but the blonde could still feel that their attention was still mostly on his group

They followed Makarov until they reached the other side of the hall, which had what looked like a bar with stools to sit on. The short old man then jumped to the table and as soon as he did he was given a mug filled with some sort of drink by a young woman that was working on the other side of the table

"You three" started Makarov, but when he said three he got a glare from Carla that made him blink before correcting himself "I mean four, wanted to join this guild, right?" he asked for confirmation, getting nods from all four of them

"Hmm" the man hummed at their response before looking at each one of them, his eyes becoming sharper than before, which Naruto noticed. He also noticed how his black eyes lingered on his own blues for a little longer than the rest, making the blonde tense for a moment

"There's no need to be nervous" Makarov assured, noticing how tense the elder teenager was "If you want to join the only thing you need to do is telling me what kind of magic you use, then we'll give you our guild mark and done! Simple enough, right?"

"So, what kind of magic can you use?" asked the old man in a kind voice, both Erza and Grace that were by his side also interested in this question, and it looked like Natsumi was a about to answer quickly but she was stopped by a hand covering her mouth, courtesy of Naruto

Said blonde didn't know how this people would react if they were to find out that three of them had such a rare form of magic, which was why he had stopped Natsumi from shouting her lungs out just now. He understood why he had to tell the Master of the guild their type of magic, but he would definitely prefer if they didn't cause a scene just at their first day in the guild

The blonde approached Makarov and signaled him to come closer, which he did with a confused expression. Then Naruto started whispering some stuff to the old man's ear, getting some nods in response before they finally separated, making everyone that was watching to wonder about what he had just told Makarov

Naruto was more calmed now since the old man had taken the news pretty easily. He had just whispered what type of magic all four of them could use, and he was kind of expecting some sort of surprise by his, Wendy's and Natsumi's magic, but Makarov was acting like it was nothing, surprising him a lot

That was of course until Makarov took a sip of his mug and the proceeded to spit said drink directly to Naruto's face, soaking him and shocking everyone that was watching, which was practically the entire guild

"YOU THREE ARE WHAT?!"

Meanwhile Naruto was thinking of how many times on his life he was going to be spit over by rather old individuals

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Next Day_

The sun was barely rising over the city of Magnolia when the blue-eyed mage known as Naruto woke up, feeling two presences besides him in bed, one of them being in his chest and the other one on his side

The blonde rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes with his hand before looking down, his eyes landing on the sleeping form of Carla, who was resting on his chest. He then looked at his left side, in which Wendy was still perfectly sleeping, getting a smile fron the blue-eyed teenager

He carefully took Carla out of his chest and left her alongside Wendy, chuckling quietly when both the girl and the talking cat snuggled against each other

There was something that was worrying him though, and that was the location of the last member of their little group, namely one Natsumi Dragneel

After refreshing himself in the bathroom that was in the room the blonde left quietly, not wanting to disturb the two girls that were still sleeping

Naruto walked through the hallway, passing through many doors that led to rooms just like the one that he had used. In fact there were only two rooms in this part of the building that were different and those were at the other side of the hall, one of them being Master Makarov's office and the other one being the room in which the petition for S-rank missions resided

After Makarov's little stunt yesterday they were finally able to join Fairy Tail, with him, Wendy and Natsumi all having their guild marks on their right shoulder in black, blue and red respectively, while Carla had hers on the middle of her back in a pink color

Of course the old man's actions got a lot of questions from the rest of the guild mates, who were quite interested in the magic of their new addition to the guild

It had been Natsumi the one to practically shout the fact that the three of them were all dragon slayers. She did it with a proud voice and Naruto wasn't able to stop her since he was still cleaning his face from Makarov's act

Of course her words were met with skepticism, with a lot of the people that where there at the hall openly doubting what the girl had just said, making her put at them angrily. It was after a few comments coming from Grace that Natsumi had enough of that and showed everyone her magic with a fiery roar

To say that everyone was shut up by her movement would have been an understatement

However the shocked silence soon became normal once again, and Naruto had took that chance to introduce himself to more people on the guild, after all he would be now spending a lot of time in this place so he had decided that making friends was practically a must

He had met more than a few people, a lot of them being slightly younger than him. One of them was Cana Alberona, a young girl with tan skin, brown hair and brown eyes that was a user of _**Majikku Kādo (Card Magic)**_.

He also met an even younger girl that had blue hair and hazel eyes, her name being Levy McGarden. She was a kind girl that had immediately approached his group and talked to them, especially Wendy, and Naruto was glad that it looked like the shy dragon slayer was able to get along with the older girl

He also got to met Mirajane's sibling, them being Lissana and Elfman Strauss. Just like their sister they also had white hair, but besides that they had little resemblance with each other. Elfman was a rather shy and humble boy, while Lissana was a kind little girl, completely different from Mirajane who had practically ignored him and their group after they had reached the guild

It was after what Makarov had called a 'new member' party, which was practically everyone just drinking, singing and sometimes brawling, that Naruto had found himself with a slight problem. He didn't have any place to sleep

He had talked to Makarov about this and he just waved his worries, telling him that he, alongside his group, could simply use one of the rooms that were on the second floor of the guild until they found a place to stay. Naruto was of course grateful and promised to pay for the troubles as soon as he got some money, but once again the guild's Master had just waved away his concerns, telling him something like that between guild mates was unnecessary

It was because of that that he had woken up in a room here in the guild, and the reason for Wendy and Carla being there with them was simply because Wendy had gotten used to sleeping besides her older brother figure, and Naruto could not tell her no when she asked if she could stay with him last night

Of course Carla had followed her, and in the end Natsumi, not wanting to be left out, had also joined in

The blonde had to admit that it was a little cramped, after all even if they were young they were still three people in the same bed, and said bed was not really that big anyway

Naruto finally reached the stairs that lead the second floor to the main hall of the guild, and from there he could easily see that there were just a few people there, which was not surprising considering how early it was

There was something that caught Naruto's eyes though, and that was the request board. Of course the reason he had joined a guild in the first place was for that, request or as they were usually called missions, but right now he knew that he couldn't go on one of them. He still needed to get to know the guild a little bit, and also make sure that Wendy, Natsumi and Carla were all comfortable here before going on his first mission

It would probably take a couple of days, but he decided that it could wait, after all he also had to get more information about Magnolia itself. Yesterday he had leaned a lot about the guild from the Master himself, but he was still new in this town, and considering that this place was going to become his home he really needed to get more information about it

Then another thing, or rather someone got Naruto's attention. The place was rather empty yes, but there still a few people here and there, and between them he easily recognized the girl that got him and his group to the guild yesterday

Erza Scarlet

Yesterday the young red-head had left Naruto confused. Yesterday as soon as the 'party' has started Naruto had noticed how she had pulled herself away from the rest of the guild, but unlike Mirajane who acted like she actually preferred to be alone, Erza had just looked lonely in the blonde's eyes

It didn't help neither that most of the guild was wary of her, almost as if they feared her. In fact the only person that the blonde remembered that had talked to her had been Grace, and even that was nothing but a challenge to a fight that Erza of course had said no

This had left Naruto curious about her. She definitely didn't look like a bad girl or anything, and considering how welcoming this place was he was surprised to find someone that looked so lonely. The blonde liked to consider himself a good judge of character, so he decided to approach the girl, truly wanting to know more of her

"Ohayo, Erza!" greeted the blonde with a smile as soon as he reached her table

Erza, who was quietly eating her breakfast, was surprised when someone actually greeted her, and it showed in her expression as soon as she looked up at the blonde newcomer

"Ohayo, Naruto-san" the girl's greeting was a lot more subdued and quiet, her voice stoic almost to the point of being cold. However unlike others Naruto was not the least deteriorated by her and simply sat beside her, surprising her a little bit more

"Have you seen Natsumi-chan? She wasn't there when I woke up" asked the blonde first, remembering the missing member of his group.

"I saw her this morning" answered the red-head, her breakfast already over "I think she was going to the forest that's near here" she continued, her voice calm as ever

"Hmm I see" Naruto was not really worried about Natsumi, after all the girls was able to take care of herself before she had met him, so he was sure that a little trip to the forest nearby was nothing to her, although he was more than ready to go and look for her if she stayed there too long

Then both mages fell in a silence. It was not an awkward one, but Naruto would definitely preferred it the two of them were talking so he started to think of subjects to bring up to the girl, but surprisingly it was Erza the one that broke the ice with a question

"You're really a dragon slayer?" the red-head asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. Of course she had seen Natsumi's show of skill yesterday but she still had her doubts, after all dragons were beings of legends, and the thought of actually learning magic from one of them sounded too incredible in her mind

"Yeah, we all three are" answered Naruto, happy that it was Erza the one starting the conversation "We were all raised by different dragons though"

"How did you all met then?" another question escaped Erza's lips, actually surprising her. She wasn't an over talkative person after all. It wasn't that she was shy or anything like that, just that she found it hard to open up to people that much

In fact the closest thing she had to friendship here was with Mirajane of all people, and she would rather be stripped of all her weapons before actually considering her a friend. A rival was a more acceptable title for her

Naruto smiled at her before telling her an abridged version of how he met both Wendy and Natsumi, happy and relieved that the girl wasn't giving him the cold shoulder

"And then you decided to come here and join Fairy Tail?" said the red-head after hearing the blonde's story, a new-found respect for the blonde growing inside of her. The way she saw it was that he could have ignored both Wendy and Natsumi, after all they weren't his responsibility, and yet he actually decided to help them

Naruto nodded at her, now deciding that it was his turn to make a question "How about you? Why did you join the guild?"

And as soon as his question escaped his lips he regretted it completely because of the girl's response

Her eyes became a lot darker than before and her whole body practically tensed, a glint of sadness and betrayal appearing on her eyes before it disappeared quickly, almost as if it had never been there, but Naruto was able to see it and it became obvious for him that whatever had happened in her past was definitely something that still haunt her today, which Naruto could relate too easily

After all his time with Acnologia was also a sore subject for him

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…" muttered Naruto, remorse on his voice, which just got a tense nod from Erza

"It's nothing" she answered back, acting as if what still plagued her mind had never affected her.

Then they both felt into an awkward silence, prompting the blonde to kick himself mentally. He had just ruined a good start to get to know the girl! His mind was going a mile per second with thought about what to say to her, but lucky for him the theme of conversation he needed appeared in the form of certain pink-haired dragon slayer, who had just entered the guild with a big smile on her face, her hands holding something _very_ familiar for the blonde

"Naruto-nii, look what I found! It's a dragon egg!" said the girl in an exited way while holding a big egg that had a blue design on it

While Erza looked at both Natsumi and the egg with an incredulous expression Naruto just looked at both the girl and the egg with a deadpanned one, now truly believing that someone or something liked to mess with the life's of every dragon slayer, after all it not only looked like he was a magnet for other dragon slayers, but that those dragon slayers were also magnet for this kind of eggs

Then Natsumi's words truly entered his head, making the blonde mage to snort a little bit, an interesting thought going on his mind

'It looks like Carla it's going to get a little sister… or a brother… oh boy'

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Later that day_

A group of five individuals were now all sitting around a rather big egg, the little house they had build early covering all five of them perfectly

Even though they were five the place didn't felt that much crowded, mostly because the only one that was actually big was Naruto since the rest of the people there were three young girls and one talking cat

This group was formed by none other than Naruto Uzumaki, Wendy Marvel, Natsumi Dragneel, Carla and as an addition to the group Lissana Strauss, who was right now stroking the egg carefully with her hands

Of course Natsumi bringing what she believed was a dragon egg was met with a lot of skepticism from the other members of the guild that had finally started to arrive, prompting the young girl to get upset at them, telling them that once the dragon came out of the egg they would all be sorry

There was someone that actually believed her though, that someone was Lissana, who had actually sided with Natsumi against Mirajane's wishes

Then after Wendy and Carla finally gotten up and joined the group Lissana had suggested to find a place in order to take care of the egg to which everyone had agreed easily

Naruto had in that moment whispered to Wendy to not tell anyone about the egg, wanting for it to be a surprise for Natsumi. The young girl had of course accepted, also wondering what type of cat would come out of it

The blonde had also noticed how Carla had looked at the egg with suspicion in her eyes, and he had to bit his tongue in order to stop himself from telling her that she would be 'Carla Onee-san' from now on

He had a feeling that she would not like that

Now the five of them found themselves in a small clearing that Natsumi had found, all of them surrounding the egg. Naruto had of course built a little house for them with what he was able to find. It wasn't that big but it was more than enough to have all five of them and the egg perfectly safe

"Why is it taking so long? I want to see the dragon already!" pouted Natsumi, her eyes looking directly at the egg almost as if expecting to burst open at any second

"Don't worry so much, Natsumi-chan" said Naruto, amusement obvious on his eyes "I'm sure it will hatch soon enough. I hope you realize that this little fellow here will be your responsibility was it hatches" the blonde's last words just got a firm nod from the fire dragon slayer, prompting a giggle from Lissana

"I guess that means you will be the mother, Natsumi!" said the girl, who then looked at Naruto with an innocent smile "Then Naruto-san should be the father, don't you think?"

Her words got a chuckle from Naruto and a blush from Natsumi who just looked at the other way while scratching her head

"How are you going to name him?" Wendy asked softly while looking at Natsumi who then put on her best thinking pose, with her eyes closed and a hand on her chin

"I don't know" answered the pink-haired girl, now looking at the egg like it would have the answer she was looking for. She then felt a hand on top of her head, courtesy of the blonde dragon slayer

"Naruto-nii?"

"I'm sure that once it hatched you'll figure out something good" he told her, remembering how it had been Wendy the one to name Carla

All five of them stayed there for the rest of the day, talking about everything they could think off. From how it was to live with a dragon to Lissana's siblings to magic, and Naruto was truly glad that it looked like both Natsumi and Wendy had become friends with the youngest Strauss

Once it started to go dark outside Naruto had to convince both Lissana and Wendy that it would be better if they returned to the guild, mostly because Naruto didn't want to deal with an angry Mirajane coming over looking for her little sister

He would have told the same to Natsumi, however seeing how the girl was adamant about staying with the egg, and since bringing the egg to the guild might create more issues he let her stay while he walked Lissana, Wendy and Carla back to the guild in which they were greated by a fuming Mirajane who simply glared at Naruto, receiving an innocent smile in return, before leaving with Lissana

Then he made sure that Wendy was on their bed alongside Carla before leaving the guild and going back to where Natsumi was, not wanting to leave the young girl alone for the night

Once he returned he was greeted by the sight of Natsumi lying besides the egg and holding it tightly, like if she was afraid of the egg disappearing at any second.

Without words the blonde just went to the other side of the egg and rested there, his hands behind his head and his eyes glued to the rooftop of the hut he had made early

For some minutes neither him or Natsumi spoke, which was definitely a weird sight considering how imperative the young girl was most of the time, but the blonde could tell that something was bothering her, so he decided to just wait there for her to approach him

Which she did

"Naruto-nii" the girl whispered, her normal exuberant voice now a lot weaker than the blonde ever remember hearing

"Yeah?"

"You think I'll find Igneel one day?" Natsumi asked, her hold on the egg becoming a little bit more tight when she mentioned her adoptive father

With that question a wave of understanding reached the blonde mage, who now understood more of his pink-haired companion. Of course he knew that, just like Wendy, Natsumi longed to find her adoptive parent, to find her family.

Naruto could not say that he understood her completely though, after all he was in no hurry to see Acnologia again, but he did understand a part of her sadness

Thoughts of his _real_ family had plagued his minds for time to time. He had always wondered about them while training with Acnologia. He longed to find them, to reunite with them, but with that it also came the fear of never being able to do that. What if they were dead? What if they didn't care about him and they had abandoned him? Those thoughts appeared on his head a lot more than he would like, but every time they did he somehow felt reassurance as soon as he touched either his necklace or the kunai he always had with him

He didn't understand why that was, but right now he did understand Natsumi. He guessed that the girl, and probably Wendy too now that he thought about it, also felt like him. They wanted to find their families, which were the dragons that had raised them, and be reunited with them once again, but they were also scared of not only the possibility of never finding them, but also of rejection, after all the dragons had abandoned them, and it was impossible for something like that to not leaves scars

The blonde got up into a sitting position and looked directly at Natsumi. He could see her eyes following his every movement, apparently waiting for an answer, and for just one second he didn't know what to say to her. He could be completely honest with her and tell her that finding any of their dragon teachers was almost impossible, or he could give her hope and reassurance and tell her that everything would be fine

In the end he simply decided to say what his heart told him to

"You will" Naruto answered, his blue eyes landing on Natsumi's black ones "I don't know when you will find him, or how… but I'm sure that one day you two will see each other again and I promise that I'll help you as much as I can, Natsumi-chan"

His words got an immediate effect, getting a giant grin from the girl, and a part of him felt bad for raising the girl's spirit so much even though he knew that what she wanted was so far from her grasp but he had already decided that she would help her as much as she could. That she would help her find her father at any cost

He might not be able to ever find anything about his family, but he wouldn't let the same feeling of loneliness that he had felt while training with Acnologia to creep into Natsumi's heart

Somehow he would make sure that both Natsumi and Wendy get reunited with their dragon parents, even if he had to track down Acnologia and ask him for information personally!

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Next Day at the Guild Hall_

"Who took it?!" a pissed off Natsumi yelled, her angry eyes going through everyone that now had her attention on the guild

Naruto was just behind her with his arms crossed over his chest and Wendy and Carla by his side, his expression a lot calmer than the young pink-haired girl

"It was you, wasn't it?!" Natsumi said while pointing her finger at none other than Grace who then looked at the girl with angriness obvious on her eyes

"I didn't take your damn egg!" Grace snarled at Natsumi, now going face to face with her, which only got a growl from the dragon slayer

There was something missing from the young Fullbuster though, and that was her shirt, which of course Naruto and everyone else noticed. She wasn't bare-chested though because she had bindings that covered her chest completely, hiding everything from view

He had wondered why the girl had the impulse of taking her clothes off, which had got a response from Cana yesterday, saying that it was just something that she did without even noticing it, and that since the wrappings were harder for her to take out she had decided to use them

He was at least glad that she kept her shorts on, or the situation might be a lot more awkward

"Grace, your clothes" Cana told the girl, making her break her staring contest with Natsumi to look at her body, finally noticing that she was missing her shirt. She released a yelp followed by a blush just before starting to look for said piece of clothes, now ignoring Natsumi completely

The situation was actually quite simple. Both Naruto and Natsumi had woken up in the morning to find that the egg they had taken care off yesterday was missing

Of course since the only ones that knew about the egg were the other members of the guild Natsumi was quick to come to the conclusion that one of them had stolen the egg. She didn't know why and she didn't care, she just wanted the egg back

Unknown to her Naruto had actually been up when the intruder had come, and he knew who had taken the egg. He could have also stopped him, but he couldn't feel any source of ill feeling coming from the boy so he had decided to let it play out and only intervene if the responsible took too long to give the egg back

Another one that knew what was going on was none other than the Master of the guild, Makarov Dreyar, who had witnessed one of his Fairies arriving at the guild with the egg earlier. He was also waiting to see how the situation would play out

Natsumi kept yelling, demanding the egg to be returned to her. Naruto also noticed that Wendy was becoming a little nervous with the situation since she had never seen Natsumi so mad about anything even though she understood her, but she was reassured by a smile from Naruto, who had just caught up an interesting sight

"I-I'm sorry…" the only male of the Strauss siblings, Elfman, said while walking over to the crowd that Natsumi had gathered with a quite familiar egg in his hands

"Elfman/Elfman-nii?!" both Mirajane and Lissana were definitely shocked by the fact that it was Elfman the one that had taken the egg, but he was quick to explain that he just wanted to help them hatch it, but that he was too embarrassed about it to ask them personally

Natsumi was quick to take the egg out of his hands before inspecting it, making sure that it was perfectly ok. Then she turned her glare at Elfman with the obvious intention of venting her anger at him, but she was stopped once Naruto got to her

"It's ok Elfman" the young blonde assured the white-haired man, a kind smile on his face while his hand landed on top of Natsumi's head "But next time if you want to help just say so, we're all part of the same guild after all. Shouldn't be helping each other something normal for us?"

Naruto's words not only got Elfman to calm down and smile a little at both at him, but also got that most of the people around him to smile too, truly believing the blonde's words. Even Erza cracked a little smile while Mirajane smirked

Makarov for his part just looked at the situation and smiled, glad that the trio of dragon slayers looked like they were fitting perfectly in the Guild. He had been a little nervous at first but now it looked like he had just got nervous over nothing

Although he had the bad feeling that once his grandson returned from his mission with his team things were going to become a little more problematic around the place

Then the unthinkable happened and the egg that Natsumi was holding started to glow with a bright white light, making both Naruto and Wendy to remember Carla's 'birth'. Not a second later the egg started to crack, and Natsumi would have freaken out if it wasn't for the little being that went out of the now broken egg

A small blue cat with small white wings appeared out of the egg, shocking everyone there, even the Master of the guild. The little feline started to actually _fly_ around everyone, surprising them even more, after all seeing a cat coming out of an egg was weird enough but now said cat was actually flying around like a bird!

Naruto chuckled while Wendy giggled a little bit since everyone's expression was truly priceless, and then something happened that actually surprised the blonde. Everyone around them also started to smile, chuckle or giggle at seeing the young cat's antics, who was flying around and looking at everything with so much awe that it was truly a cute sight

Even Natsumi smiles brightly, apparently not the slight sad about the fact that it was a cat and not a dragon that came out of the egg

Then the blue cat finally landed on Natsumi's arms, prompting everyone to crowd around her, wanting to get a good look at the young new-born

Naruto kneeled besides the girl and scratched the blue cat's ears slightly, actually getting a purr from him

"Well it looks like this little guy here just made this place happier, don't you think?" the blonde whispered to Natsumi so that only the two of them could hear

His words got Natsumi's eyes to widen before looking at the blue cat with a grin

"Happy!" she said, prompting confused looks for everyone around her, even Naruto was a little lost "That's his name! Happy!"

And then almost as if knowing that he had just be named, which in Naruto's mind he probably did, Happy released his first words, prompting even more shocked looks at the fact there was now a second cat that could talk in the guild

"Aye!"

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**Told you I was going to get this chapter sooner, and it's also longer that the rest of the chapters of this fic, so I hope you guys enjoy it**

**Not much going around for this chapter, mostly just settings things up for the future. Yes this fic has Fem!Gray besides Fem!Natsu. I did warn you about other genderbend after all. There probably won't be more genderbend of Fairy Tail characters for a while anyway**

**As some of you might have already realized this fic will have more Naruto characters than just Naruto himself. They will, just like Naruto, be people born in the FT world, so you can expect to see more Naruto characters around**

**It will probably take a few more chapters, like three or four, for the fic to finally reach the start of canon Fairy Tail. Of course things will go different there, not only because of Naruto's presence but also because of other people like Zeref. Next chapter will also have more action since this one was lacking that**

**Next Chapter: Naruto's first mission!**


	6. The Hidden Sword of the Mist

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 5**

**The Hidden Sword of the Mist**

_Train Station of Magnolia_

"I know I already said this before but… I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Erza" the blonde mage known as Naruto said while scratching the back of his head with his hand.

"And I already told you to stop apologizing, Naruto-san. We're guild mates and you needed help so I decided to help you, no big deal" the younger red-head known as Erza was quick to answer, her tone calm while her arms were crossed over her armored chest.

The two members of Fairy Tail were waiting for their train to reach the station. The sun was high on the sky and a multitude of people were walking around in the station, some leaving it while others stayed and waited for their train just like Naruto and Erza.

The reason for them being here was something rather simple in the lives of mages: A mission. It was not any mission though, which was the reason that Erza was now accompanying Naruto.

It had been a week already since Naruto, Wendy, Natsumi and Carla had joined the guild. In that time the blonde mage had done what he intended, this was of course to make sure that his fellow dragon slayers and talking cat were comfortable in the guild.

Wendy had definitely found the guild a fun place. Naruto had thought that the girl's shy behavior might make it harder for her to make friends, especially in such a rowdy place like Fairy Tail, but apparently his worries had been for nothing since Wendy had easily found friendship in both Levy McGarden and Cana Alberona, two other girls that were a little older than her.

Natsumi for her part definitely fitted the part of a Fairy Tail member. There was no doubt that she and Lissana Strauss were friends, but what had gotten Naruto confused was the little rivalry that Natsumi had with none other than Grace Fullbuster. No one in the guild could understand why such a relationship had been formed, and the only explanation that they managed to come up was the fact that their style of magic were complete opposites of one another's.

Naruto just guessed that a little bit of friendly rivalry couldn't hurt anyone. There was also the fact that the newest member of the guild, which was the blue cat known as Happy, was always keeping Natsumi company, apparently thinking that she was his mother or something.

The fact that Happy thought Naruto was his father also just brought a lot of teasing towards Natsumi from both Grace and Mirajane's part, which if you knew the pink-haired girl meant trouble.

Stuff like that were what normally started fights in the guild.

Naruto had yet to start training both Wendy and Natsumi. He first wanted to make sure that they settled in the guild. Not only that but Naruto also wanted to find a place to live. While Makarov had told him that they could stay at the guild as long as they wanted Naruto just didn't want to abuse of that kindness, and decided that as soon as he got the money by doing missions he would find a new home for his little entourage.

That's pretty much what brought the current situation.

The blonde had finally decided to go in a mission. This had been something that Naruto had wanted to do every since he had joined the guild but he had stopped himself for his group's sake, but now that he knew they would be fine while he was not there, something that Makarov had promised to the blonde, Naruto had decided to finally do his job as a member of the guild.

Of course there were plenty missions for him to pick up, from little jobs that anyone could do to more long and difficult tasks. While Naruto understood the necessity of such easy jobs, especially for the younger members of the guild, he could not help but to crave for a challenge, which is why he ended up taking one of the missions that had the biggest reward.

The mission itself was quite simple. It was simply to find what sounded like a very rare sword that said to be guarded in some very old ruins.

Naruto didn't take the mission just because it sounded interesting though. It also offered quite the reward, which considering what he wanted to do was something he needed to get as fast as he could.

Of course as soon as he told his guild Master that he wanted to take that mission is when the problem began.

First there was the fact that Natsumi wanted to go with him. She had been adamant about that and only the promise of him training her after getting back had managed to stop her from following, although barely.

The other problem was that Makarov didn't felt comfortable enough by letting someone that had just joined the guild with such a young age to go on a mission like that, at least by himself. Naruto had protested of course, he tried to convince his guild Master that he had enough skills to accomplish such a quest by himself.

Makarov had not changed his mind and tried to convince Naruto to take an easier missions, but Naruto proved to be as stubborn as someone of his age could be, prompting Makarov to reach to an agreement.

He would let Naruto go as long as he got someone else to go alongside him.

Makarov had asked loudly to everyone in the guild if anyone wanted to accompany Naruto on his first mission. Some looked interested and Naruto knew that getting a partner for the mission would not be hard, but the whole guild had been left speechless when Erza of all people ended up volunteering first.

Naruto himself had been surprised too at first, but he welcomed the red-head's help, so with a few more extras farewell and words of their Guild Master both Fairy Tail members had set themselves to accomplish their mission.

And now came what Naruto believed would be the hardest part of said mission: actually surviving the train trip.

"Is there something wrong, Naruto-san?" Erza asked with a frown, noticing how the blonde was looking as the recently arrived train with no little amount of distrust.

"N-no" the blonde answered a little bit shakily, wondering how much would he be able resist now without Wendy to help him. Oh well, the trip to Hargeon wasn't that long anyway, so he was sure he would be able to handle it.

Five minutes later he was proved completely wrong.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Hargeon Town_

"You…really can't handle trains, can you?" Erza said with a deadpanned expression, rubbing the back of her guild mate, who was pretty much hunching over, doing his best to recover his breath after traveling in what he considered a dead trap by now.

"It's just… a side effect" Naruto said between breaths, already feeling way better than before "of my magic"

"That's…specific" Erza commented, honestly not knowing what to think about that. Something then clicked on her mind "You do realize we'll have to get a boat later for the mission…right?"

"I'm aware, yes" the blonde answered, a shiver going through his spine at the mere thought of getting into a boat "but I'll just let the Naruto of the future handle that" he finished while stretching a little bit, his eyes looking around at the unfamiliar town before looking at his companion "Well, lead the way"

Erza nodded in response and the two members of Fairy Tail started moving through the town, Erza's eyes either normally fixed in front of her or in the paper she had in her hand explaining the mission, while Naruto simply walked with his hands behind his head, looking around with no little amount of curiosity, considering how he wasn't used to such big towns like this one.

He could actually smell the salt coming from the ocean, while his eyes wandered through the buildings and people hanging around. Most of then looked like civilians, in fact there didn't look like there were any mages around, which Naruto thought it was honestly weird considering how common it was to see mages in places like Magnolia.

"Hargeon is mainly a port town, so is rare to find mages living here. Most are just here for missions or are just passing by" it seemed that Erza had read his mind or something, since the red-head dutifully explained as she apparently had noticed his own confusion.

"Ahh I see…" Naruto said while nodding in understanding "So we just have to meet the guy and then find a sword in an island, right?" the blonde asked, already knowing the details but wanting to be sure he didn't make any mistakes. It was his first mission after all.

"In theory, yes, but…" Erza responded, a small frown appearing on her face at the end, something that got Naruto curious.

"But?"

"Considering how simple the mission looks, and how big the reward is, there's a chance that someone else might have taken the mission already"

"Eh?! But no one in the guild looked interested about it!" Naruto said, remembering how there didn't seem to be anyone particularly interested in this specific mission. Wasn't Erza being paranoid now?

"You're right, but it's not rare for missions to be send to multiple guilds, so there's still a chance that someone from another guild might have taken it too already" Erza answered, her eyes glued to the paper in her hands. However she was forced to stop once she noticed that her blonde companion wasn't walking besides her anymore.

The red-head turned around, a confused look on her face as she looked at Naruto, who was just standing there, no emotions showing on his face. She was about to call out to him, but the only thing she was able to do was to squeak of surprise as Naruto's next actions were to suddenly snatch the piece of paper from her hands, grab her by the hand and then pretty much drag her as he made a mad dash towards god knows were.

"C'mon then, we can't lose time!" Naruto said with urgency. There was no way he was going to let anyone steal his first mission like that!

"W-wait, Naruto-san!" Erza tried to stop the older boy, understanding why he was in such a hurry but honestly thinking it was too much. Sure, someone could have taken the same mission, but she honestly thought it was rather unlikely.

If only she knew.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Minutes later_

"This is _my_ mission, blondie, so you better back off!"

"Yours? Who died and made you the owner exactly?!"

"We got here first, so of course this mission belongs to us!"

"You just made that up!"

Such discussion would have probably continued for hours if it wasn't for a hand, courtesy of Erza, slapping Naruto right on the back of his head, stopping him from continuing his rant and making him rub the spot in which he got hit, however a glare was still present in his face, the girl at the receiving end of said glare doing nothing but glaring back.

"I'm sorry for my guild mate's lack of… tact" Erza apologized with a formal bow.

"I should be the one apologizing for my charge's actions" a bald man, looking to be on his early twenties, answered back, he too making a formal bow.

Meanwhile Naruto simply glared at the girl that was already ticking him off, said girl having no issues with returning the glare with the same amount of heat. The girl had long messy black raven hair with two bangs framing her face, black eyes and pale skin. She looked about the same age as Naruto, with her sporting a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, white shorts, and what looked like white arm warmers. There was also a strange symbol on the back of her shirt that Naruto had never seen before.

Just besides her was a massive man looking to be on his early twenties, with a bulky build and a completely bald head. He also had two weird marks above his eyes, while his outfit itself was eye-catching enough, considering how…tribal it looked, at least in Naruto's eyes. However what caught most of the blonde's attention was the aura of the guy.

To put is simple, while he looked like a peaceful fellow, there was no denying that he was definitely powerful.

"The youth of today can really be problematic sometimes" the bald man spoke, a smile present on his face as he looked at both teens still glaring at one another.

"Indeed" Erza answered with a sharp nod, completely agreeing with the man.

"Jura stop acting like an old man!" the raven-haired girl said.

"I'm older than you, Erza!" Naruto also complained towards his guild mate, however just like the girl he was promptly ignored.

"I think working together would be the best for our current situation" the man, whose name was apparently Jura, said in a kind tone, earning everyone's attention.

"B-but Jura!" the girl to his side obviously didn't like the idea, but the only thing she got was a ruffle of her hair from the older man.

"Good relationship between guilds is important, never forget that" he said towards his young charge, only earning an irritated huff in response.

"Thank you" Erza once again spoke with respect on her voice just before motioning towards herself and Naruto "I'm Erza Scarlet and this Naruto Uzumaki, and in Fairy Tail's name we thank you for your cooperation!"

Jura just chuckled at how formal Erza sounded, while both Naruto and the raven-haired girl looked at her as if she had grown a second head or something.

"No need to be so formal, our guilds have a pretty good relationship after all" the man continued with a small "My name is Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale" he introduced himself before signaling to the girl to do the same, even though she looked more than reluctant to do so, but she finally did so after a few seconds.

"Sasuki Uchiha" the girl finally introduced herself, crossing her arms over her chest. That attitude itself was already annoying Naruto, but Erza took it in a stride. She was already used to Mirajane after all.

"Very well then, shall we enter now? I'm sure our client must be waiting" Jura talked, taking the lead as he was the older one of the group. His eyes, alongside everyone else's, were then directed towards the mansion they were standing in front off.

It was probably one of the biggest houses Naruto had ever seen, and whoever lived there was obviously more than just rich. Apparently who ever lived there was also their client, so that definitely explained the amount of money offered in the reward.

So with a little bit of tension, coming mostly from Naruto and Sasuki, the group moved towards the house, intending to get this mission done.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

"Do you know about the _**Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)**_?" the owner of the mansion asked to his guests. He was a really old man that honestly couldn't look more fragile, with wrinkles everywhere, a rather slouch posture, completely white hair and a cane. He even had an attendant by his side just in case something happened.

"I've heard rumors about them" It was Jura the one that answered while rubbing his chin, apparently in deep thought "They're said to be a group of the most powerful and deadlier swordsman that have ever existed"

"What makes them so special?" Naruto asked, sitting besides Erza in the rather large living room. Just in front of them were Jura and Sasuki also sitting, while the old man and his attendant sat at the head of the room.

"Besides their incredible strenght they also possessed a particular set of skills" Jura was more than happy to inform them of course "Their name come from their ability to call forth mist itself with magic, and then using it in order to end their targets in a swift, deadly movement… just like a ninja" he finished in a grim tone, knowing that there were no small amounts of mages out there that were willing to kill.

"There is another thing" the old man suddenly spoke, his voice dry "They also own a very particular set of swords, with each member owning one. These swords have especial properties each, making them among the most looked after magical artifacts out there"

"What does this have to do with the mission exactly?" Sasuki asked with a raises eyebrow.

"It was my brother the one that forged said swords many years ago…" the old man continued, earning surprised looks from the bunch "He called them his greatest master piece… and it saddens me that his creations are being used by nothing but mere criminals" he ended, obvious anger in his tone, with even his fragile-looking hands holding his cane with surprising strength.

"You want us to recover all of them?" Erza asked with a frown. Finding one sword was a thing, but seven? Especially when it meant facing people with such reputation? She couldn't say she was looking forwards to it.

Luckily enough the man just shook his head before releasing a deep sigh.

"I know that would be too much to ask" he said "However, even if it has been years after my brother's dead I still would like to conserve at least one of his treasures…this is where you all come in"

This got the young mages to lean forwards in obvious interest, while Jura simply looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.

"If the information that I have is correct then one of the swords, the Hiramekarei, was hidden in a island not far from here by its previous user before dying. I want you to go and retrieve that sword for me..." at this the man let out a small chuckle, a tint of nostalgia shrouding his eyes "Even if it's just one, I would like to be able to preserve my brother's legacy"

Erza looked at the man with sadness, and even Sasuki looked a little moved by his story. They didn't expect to hear something like that from a mission that originally sounded just like a meaningless treasure hunt.

And for Naruto? The blonde suddenly stood up, his right fist meeting his left palm as a confident smile appearing on his face, surprising everyone.

"Don't worry old man; we'll get that sword for you and for your brother" the blonde said, turning towards Erza and giving her a nod, to which she returned with a small smile. Jura for his part simple smiled and nodded at the young mage and Sasuki simply smirked.

Maybe this mission wasn't going to be so boring after all.

"Thank you" the old man said, gratefulness spilling from his voice as even his butler bowed in appreciation.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Later, Mizu Island_

"Heh, it looks like we have some company" an incredible imposing man sad, his whole form hidden from the world by a black tunic and a strange hat, although if you were to look closely you would be able to notice light blue skin and teeth sharp as those of a shark on the man's face.

"I guess finding that thing can wait, I can feel someone interesting enough in that boat" the man continued, throwing of the binoculars he had been using to watch the ocean surrounding the small island. His gaze had been centered in the boat that was currently moving towards said island, a grin of anticipation forming on his mouth as he grabbed the handle of the massive object on his back.

"Let's have some fun, Samehada" and with that the man disappeared in a swirl of water, an exited chuckle being the last thing to escape him.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

_Meanwhile_

"G-guh" the blonde dragon slayer groaned, his head sticking out of the ship just in case he actually puked, the captain of it not waning any mess on what he proudly called his _baby_.

"There there" meanwhile Erza could do nothing but just pat him in the shoulder, deciding to ask their Master if there was something that could be done to help the blonde with.

And while Naruto wasn't looking, he could _feel_ the smirk he was receiving from Sasuki from behind him. He would be growling or saying something, but his current situation made him unable to do so.

"Hmm, curious side-effect" Jura muttered while looking at the dragon slayer with a look of interest and pity. Of course since they were all working together now Jura had told them to share what type of magic they used, in order for the mission to go flawlessly.

Erza's magic had not been a surprise for him, but Naruto's? This was his first time seeing an actual dragon slayer, and although he would have liked to know more, the blonde seemed pretty reserved when it came to how he obtained his magic.

Jura had not pressed more out of pure politeness, Sasuki because she didn't care at all and Erza because she understood not wanting to talk about his past. She would admit that she was curious though, after all being a dragon slayer meant that he was trained by a real dragon.

And those were pretty much creatures of legends.

Natsumi and Wendy seemed far more open about their dragon parents, so Erza couldn't help but to wonder why Naruto was so secretive about it.

"We're almost there!" the captain of the small ship said, causing everyone, with the exception of Naruto, to look towards the island in which the sword they were looking for resided.

It had been definitely a fast trip, which was no surprise considering how luxury the boat they were riding looked like, especially since it was being fueled by magic itself of all things.

And as soon as they were close enough Naruto had pretty much decided that enough was enough, and threw himself out of the boat, failing on the water with a splash and earning shocked disbelieving looks from the rest of the group, which quickly moved to look at him.

Deadpanned expressions formed on their faces once they saw him swimming like a madman towards the island, almost as if his life depended on it.

"Finally…" the dragon slayer muttered, his hands on his knees as he did his best to recover his breath, just the thought of having to get on that boat again making him shiver . Maybe he could just swim back to Hargeon?

The blonde looked back at the boat, deducing that it would only take them a few minutes to get here. His eyes then swept over his current location, he had never been on an island so this definitely a new scenario for him.

The island itself didn't look that big, Naruto's eyes focusing on the jungle in front of him that separated the center of the island with the beach surrounding it. With the information they had received their best bet was to simply go towards the center, since apparently one would find the entrance of a cavern there.

Of course from his position the blonde wasn't able to see anything about that cavern, the jungle in front of him being too thick. Not wanting to make any mistakes he simply stood there and waited for the rest to arrive, which honestly didn't take that long as the boat had been pretty close to the island already.

He just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

It only took a few minutes for Erza, Sasuki and Jura to join the blonde, the red-head of the bunch looking at Naruto with a frown, her hands on her hips.

"Please refrain from doing that again" Erza said with a glare, deciding that what the blonde had done was a little too impulsive for her like. Sure he had it bad in the boat, but it couldn't be _that_ bad to just jump out of it, right?

"Sorry sorry" the blonde waved away her complains, a grin present on his face, getting nothing but a sigh from his guild mate.

"We should just get going with this" Sasuki said with impatience, not wanting to be delayed just because of someone else's problems. Jura nodded besides her, his right hand rubbing his chain as he looked at the jungle in front of him, thinking of what the best way to walk through it would be.

"Very well, let's move along then…" Jura announced, moving towards the front of the group with the obvious intend to lead them, and the three younger mages would have followed him willingly, if it wasn't for that suddenly took them by surprise.

A sudden feeling of dread washed over them, their wholes body tensing, their eyes widening in nothing but shock, all of them moving wildly around them, trying to get at look at whatever was releasing such a presence.

Their first warning then came, as a burst of water from below the ocean pierced the boat that they had been on just a couple of minutes before, completely shattering it in nothing but bits, making it their focus.

Having being launched into the air the captain of the ship washed away at the shore, and the group of mages would have moved to help him if more pillars of water didn't suddenly sprang from the sea, these ones moving directly towards the mages.

"Move!" Jura was the first one to recover, pushing Sasuki to the side while jumping to the opposite side himself. Naruto and Erza were quick to get out of their stupor to avoid the blast, landing just besides Sasuki.

They weren't even given a second to rest though, as the same feeling of dread washed over them, only that this time it was ten times worse. Cold sweat appeared on their foreheads as Sasuki's and Erza's breath became shallow, while Jura and Naruto being able to handle it better, Jura for the experience he had with dealing with dark guilds and Naruto because of the time he spent with Acnologia.

However that didn't change the fact that it brought flashes of memories into the head of the younger mages, memories that they would rather never have to see again.

Death and blood filled Sasuki's head, her eyes flashing read as she shook her head in a vain attempt to stop it.

Betrayal and torture was brought forth in Erza's mind, her childhood playing over and over until she was forced to grab the sides of her head just try and stop the images.

A desolated village filled with nothing but corpses is what Naruto remembered, the mocking laugh of the Apocalypse Dragon ringing on his ears as he gritted his teeth, his hand pressing so much into fists that he almost drew blood with his nails, his head moving everywhere, trying to see who was releasing such a powerful amount of _killing intent_.

Yes, the blonde had recognized it, it had not to, considering how many times Acnologia had flared his own during training, but to feel one like this is a whole different thing.

"Enough!" however the killing intent suddenly stopped, as Jura's words echoed in the empty beach, his visage being one of angriness, a scold present of his face as he looked in front of him, his arms ready to his side.

"Heh, trying to ruin my fun?" it was as if someone had summoned a monster, for just a second later a swirl of water appeared a few meters away from Jura, the water disappearing and showing everyone just who was see that was tormenting them with a grin on his face.

Black robes with red clouds moved with the wing, as what could barely be considered a human in everyone's eyes suddenly appeared. His skin a light tone blue, with his grin showing a row of sharp, even deadly looking eyes, that made everyone think he looked more like an animal than an actual person.

On his back was a massive looking object, completely hidden with bandages of some sort, however if the handle was any indication it was definitely a weapon, one that this monster of a man was apparently ready to use as he moved one of his hands towards the handle.

"Kids" Jura said with nothing but seriousness in his tone, cold sweat going down his neck as he eyed the blue-skinned man in front of him, his voice moving the rest of the groups eyes towards him "Get away from here, go find the item, I shall deal with him in the meantime"

"W-what?!" Ssaku asked with shock, her eyes looking straight at Jura's back "I'm not going to leave you alone!" she yelled.

However what she got a firm look from her fellow Lamia Scale mage, one that told her that there would be no discussions here. Sasuki was stubborn though, and she would have said something if a hand hadn't suddenly landed on her shoulder, courtesy of certain dragon slayer.

"We'll leave him to you then, Jura-san" Naruto said with a nod towards the man "We will only get in your way if we stay, won't we?"

"Indeed" the bald man said, his eyes moving towards his opponent once more "This is not an opponent you kids could hope to handle right now"

"Of course…" Naruto muttered, the words leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Considering how powerful the killing intent on that guy was, he couldn't even imagine how strong he actually was.

They would only be a burden if they chose to stay.

"I'm sorry to trust you with my charge, but please look after her, Naruto-kun" Jura requested, and Sasuki would have definitely complained about this if she had been given a moment to do so, for the next thing Naruto did was to grab both hers and Erza's wrist and pretty much dash away from the place, his objective being the center of the island.

"You better not lose!" Those were the last words the blonde said before the three mages disappeared from sight, leaving only Jura and his opponent standing in the beach.

Alongside the passed out captain of the destroyed ship of course.

"Finally they're gone!" the monster said, his grin getting wider by the second as he slowly moved towards Jura "Now I can get some fun with you, looking for that stupid sword was really boring after all!"

"So you were here for that too…" Jura muttered, trying to piece together who he was facing exactly. He had never seen this person, as he was sure he would remember someone so…unique.

"Let's have fun, little guy!" the shark-looking man suddenly declared, and with one swift motion he dashed towards Jura, the object on his hands moving with a swiftness that should be impossible to obtain on something that looking so heavy.

And at that moment Jura prepared to fight for his life, as his magic filled his body and the earth became his weapon.

**BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD**

**I can only apologize for taking so long to update, but I assure to everyone that is still sticking to this story that I won't abandon it. Next update will come a lot sooner than this one.**

**In fact I planned to continue this chapter some more, but that would have taken too much time for me and I really wanted to update it before New Year.**

**And yes, FemSasuke! Is in this one. What can I say; I did put that warning in the summary for a reason.**

**Also just to be clear on something, this story won't focus much on OCs. Whatever characters appear will be either from Fairy Tail, Naruto or some other anime/manga (I'll be sure to keep those to a minimum though) as some of you wondered if the villains were going to be just a bunch of OCs.**

**Also I want to make a statement. Obviously when I started this fic a lot of the stuff happening in the Fairy Tail manga had yet to happen (I'm looking at you Alvarez arc). Of course I can't just rewrite this story every time Mashima decided to throw a curve ball at us, so for this fic I'm only using everything that happened up until the end of the Tartarus arc as the base.**

**That doesn't mean I won't use anything that appeared after that (I can assure you the Alvarez empire and the Spriggans will appear), just that I will be picking on what I can use that can fit the plot of the fic without having to just scrap everything.**

**Thank you all for your patience and for supporting this story!**

**Next Chapter: Resolution of Partnership**


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